The Rise of Maria Valdez
by Phoenix 7.49
Summary: A new great prophecy has been made, featuring the child of the savior of the world and the wronged titan, who is destined to become king of the gods. But Zeus doesn't like being displaced, and will use any means to keep his position. But he doesn't realize that he has made Leo Valdez his enemy, and Leo Valdez does not lose. The war against the king of the gods is on!
1. Prologue

**A/N:- I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT FOR THE PLOT AND THE NEXT GENERATION OF DEMIGODS. ALL OTHER CREDITS GO TO A CERTAIN GUY NAMED RICK RIORDAN.**

* * *

 **PROLOGUE**

The wind blew through the curly hair of a twenty-two year old Leo Valdez. He grinned, and with good reason. He was going to see his friends again after over seven years! Aaand they _probably_ thought he was dead too. The look on their faces was going to be priceless! Had he not had his secret weapon, the others would kill him _again_ and this time, his death would be more painful and much more permanent.

He looked back to see Calypso, his wife, sitting behind him on Festus the bronze dragon, holding _their month old son._ Leo still sometimes wondered how he ever got so lucky as to get a girl like Calypso. This brought back memories of the day they left Ogygia. The escape from Ogygia had not been pleasant. It had drained most of Calypso's strength to break the island's magical barrier. Crash landing in Iceland wasn't very pleasant either. After the repairs which took a month, they had to fight monsters of more mythologies than Leo would like to count. They had been attacked by several gods across Europe, Africa, Asia, and even _Antarctica_ (Apparently, Skadi, the Norse goddess of ice and snow did not like metal dragons crashing into her palace) and Leo would have died every single time had it not been for Calypso (A titan is really handy while fighting gods.) and the fact that he had saved every pantheon from annihilation.( Turns out, immortals _can_ be grateful)

Right now, they were flying over Texas, and would reach camp in a matter of hours. Leo was actually, for once, returning to his home, a feat which he had not performed since he was eight. The sky was cloudy, but Leo was over the clouds, emotionally as well as literally. There were the occasional bouts of turbulence, but with Festus' new and improved gyroscopic stabilization mechanism, they had nothing to worry about.

Well, at least until Festus was struck by a massive lightning bolt. Leo flipped open the control panel. All the circuits were fried. There was no time to perform such extensive repairs.

"Well?" Calypso asked calmly without raising her voice, yet he could hear it clearly "Can you repair him?" She had to divert her attention to the baby which was wailing. Leo shook his head. "Grab on." Calypso said, extending her hand towards him, while holding little Samuel Valdez in the other.

As soon as her had a grip on her, Calypso jumped off Festus. She stayed in a headfirst freefall. When the ground was about a mile away, she began to slow down, landing gently on her feet. All three of them were unharmed. Leo walked towards Festus to assess the damage. Festus' left wing was quite damaged, apart from the fried control circuits. He shifted his gaze to Festus' underbelly. In the exact centre, there was an ugly scorch mark. Leo was surprised. He had rebuilt Festus to be strong enough to survive an ordinary lightning strike. _Thor_ had tested it by hitting Festus with lightning ten times stronger than natural lightning, and Festus had survived that just fine. This had to be the work of an immortal. And this far into America, there was only one lightning-wielding immortal that Leo knew. It had to be….

"Lord Zeus" he said before turning around. And indeed, Zeus was there.

Zeus stood seven feet tall in front of the five foot eight demigod and the six foot nine titan.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?" Calypso asked, not bowing, still trying to silence Samuel.

"The pleasure's all mine" Zeus said "It is truly an honor to meet the savior of the world." He glanced at Calypso, and the baby in her arms. "That is a lovely son you have there. May I see him?" Zeus snapped his fingers and Samuel was instantly transported into his hands. Leo and Calypso visibly flinched. They immediately changed their postures, ready to fight at a moment's notice.

Zeus inspected the baby. "Yes. Powerful indeed. I can sense that he was destined for greatness." he said. Neither parent missed his use of the word 'was'. Samuel started wailing again.

"May I have him back, lord Zeus?" Calypso asked. Her voice was neutral, but Leo could sense the dangerous tone in her voice. Zeus continued talking as if Calypso hadn't spoken.

"A prophecy was made two years ago. It says that the child of the savior of the world and the wronged daughter of a titan shall be very powerful. So powerful, in fact, that he is destined to become king of the gods."

Leo's brain went into overdrive. Last time there was a prophecy about someone taking over from Zeus, he had swallowed the mother of the child who had yet to be conceived ( the titan who was pregnant with his daughter, Athena. Annabeth's stories from the Argo 2 were still stuck in his mind). "Give him back." Leo growled. Zeus ignored him once again.

"There is an unfortunate problem, though. I cannot allow anyone else to become king of the gods. So, I'm sorry, but he must die."

Zeus raised Samuel to the sky, and Leo and Calypso reacted instantly. Leo shot powerful flames at the lord of the skies. He didn't even flinch, and let the flames wash over him. This provided cover for Calypso, who dashed forwards and punched Zeus in the gut. He was sent flying, and Samuel dropped safely into her hands. Zeus instantly teleported back, and unleashed lightning straight at Calypso. But Leo leapt in the way of the lightning, and caught it in his right hand. Tracing a path through his body, he channeled the lightning through his body and shot it back at Zeus through his left hand, Avatar style. Zeus was blasted back a few feet by his own lightning. He roared in anger and teleported right in front of Leo. He punched him, and Leo was thrown aside like a ragdoll. He drew out his master bolt and aimed it at Calypso. Lightning washed over her, and would have killed her and Samuel, had she not created a force field at the last second. Zeus kept increasing the power. Calypso felt her shield being overloaded. She couldn't keep this up much longer.

Zeus' lightning finally broke the force field. Calypso screamed as she was hit with lightning, her body burning up from the billions of volts of electricity. Zeus once again teleported Samuel into his hands. With both parents incapacitated, there was no one to stop him. He threw Samuel into the air, and aimed the master bolt at him. There was thunder, a sizzle, and then the nauseous smell of charred flesh filled the air. Leo and Calypso gasped in horror as their son was turned to ash. Tears filled Leo's eyes as he let out a scream of rage. He hadn't felt this much pain since his mother died. Flames licked at his skin, hotter than the ones he had used against Gaia. Shooting flames from his palms, he propelled himself at the king of the gods and punched him in the face with a flaming fist. Zeus was blown back by the sheer explosive force, his face half burnt off.

As soon as she had sensed her son die, Calypso had felt immeasurable grief. For three thousand years, she had suffered losing lovers over and over again. Then there was Leo, who was the first one to truly care about her. He had freed her from her prison. Then came their son, the one person Calypso was sure she would never lose. But she had. And it was all Zeus' fault. He had cursed her. And now he had killed her son. She felt rage boiling up inside of her, pushing against an invisible barrier. The containment spell Zeus had placed on her powers. He might have been the king of the gods, but she was a titan. She pushed, and the barrier fell, her titanic power exploding from her body.

Zeus barely had time to recover from Leo's attack to see an enraged Calypso flying straight at him. She thrust her hand forward, stopping her open palm an inch away from Zeus' chest. A blast of pure titanic energy burst forth obliterating everything in its path. When the light from the blast faded, Zeus was left with a massive gaping hole in his chest. However, he regenerated almost instantly. He knocked Calypso off her feet with a burst of lightning. He ran forward faster than Leo could see and punched him, breaking half his ribs. Leo coughed up blood.

Zeus took a second to charge up, and then fired a one megaton blast of lightning at Leo. There was a massive explosion, and when the dust cleared, there was nothing left, just a big hole in the ground. However, Calypso wasn't affected. She charged Zeus again, but he blocked her easily and sent her crashing into the ground. Calypso may have been a titan, but this was the first time she had used her powers in battle. Zeus, however, had much more experience. And, the magic that kept her powers contained had left its mark. Calypso was unable to use even 10% of her power at the moment. It would take years before she was back to full strength.

"Alas, I can't allow a full-fledged titan to run around the countryside. Good-bye, Calypso." he said, raising his master bolt, hitting the spot where Calypso was with fifty megatons of explosive force. Everything within thirty miles of the spot was eradicated. Luckily, they were in the middle of a deserted wasteland, so there was no collateral damage. Zeus waited for the dust to settle. There was no trace of anything left. Even Festus had been vaporized. Zeus smiled at his handiwork and flashed back to Olympus.

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A/N:- Poor Leo and Calypso! Yes, Samuel Valdez is dead, and will stay dead. But prophecies can't be avoided, so have a fun time trying to predict the nature of the next chapter! R&R!

\- Phoenix.


	2. The Beginning of an End

**A/N:- Sorry for the overly depressing prologue. I had intended this chapter to be a part of the prologue as well, but it was becoming too long. So here we are! Leo is not dead! Just who do you think he is?! Even Thanatos will nor dare to reap his soul!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 1**

Leo gasped as he was brought to consciousness. In the distance, he could see a city that looked like Las Vegas. A few seconds later, Calypso teleported right in front of him. Leo hurried to her side and helped her up, ignoring the pain. "What happened?" he asked, which resulted in a fit of coughing up blood. Calypso gently touched his chest. Leo gasped as his bones reconnected automatically. "I teleported us out of there. With any luck, Zeus thinks that we are both dead." she said. She tried to stand on her own, but she stumbled. "I used too much energy." she said. "Is this real?" she asked Leo "Is he really dead?" Leo hung his head, unable to stop the flow of tears. Calypso tried to choke back a sob. Key word being _tried_. Leo clenched his fists, and screamed incoherently at the sky. The two collapsed against each other, sinking to the ground, crying their hearts out, mourning the loss of their son.

There was a bright flash of light, signifying the presence of a god. Leo and Calypso turned their necks immediately. The source of the flash turned out to be an eight year old girl. "What do you want, Hestia?" Leo spat bitterly. Hestia didn't even flinch at his outburst. "Calm, child." she said, letting her soothing power flow over the two. "So, what? Are you here on Zeus' orders to finish us off?" asked Calypso. "Quite the contrary." Hestia said "There are plenty of immortals who are tired of Zeus' reign. Believe it or not, there are a few sensible immortals among us. Zeus was straining his authority eighty years ago with his oath. But his paranoia has reached its limit this time. He says that we should not intervene in our children's fates, yet he if more than comfortable with breaking that rule when the fates threaten him. There are those of us who believe that this prophecy has proven that Zeus is no longer fit to rule. We believe that this is a prophecy that must come to pass as soon as possible." Leo Let out a dark laugh "It sure didn't seem that way when no one showed up to help us against Zeus. AND BECAUSE OF THAT, MY SON IS DEAD!" Leo's voice had grown into a scream. "Alas, I had no knowledge of your being there." said Hestia "Zeus must have set up an illegal detection charm beyond the Greek gods' area of influence, while dulling the senses of the rest of us. I only managed to find you because of your titanic energy, Calypso."

"How many are there?" asked Calypso "How many immortals are against him?" Hestia sighed before saying "Not many, I'm afraid. Aside from myself, there is Hades, Demeter, Boreas, Persephone, and believe it or not, Khione. Apparently, you knocked some sense into her the last time you fought." "What of my father?" Leo asked. "Hestia's eyes clouded over with sorrow "Alas, Hephaestus cannot help you this time. Ever since the prophecy was spoken, Zeus has taken away most of Hephaestus' power. Seeing as you are his son, Zeus thought it would be unwise to let him keep the capability of bringing you back to life. The most that Hephaestus can do this time is stay out of your way." Leo hung his head in despair. This was by far, the second-worst day of his life.

"Do not despair, Leo and Calypso Valdez. Hope is no lost yet." Hestia said with a small smile. "What do you mean?" Leo asked. "We are outnumbered, and we have only one of the big three on our side, and only three major gods, including you and Hades! What chance do we have?" Calypso cried out.

"Don't worry. I am much more powerful than I let on." Hestia said "And besides, the most powerful among us is you, Calypso. You are a titan, which means that you are as strong as any five gods put together when you are at full strength. Zeus' debts are long since overdue, and your child is destined to make him pay up." "So our next child is just a pawn in another one of your godly plans. How very admirable." Calypso said bitterly. Hestia shook her head before replying "Yes. Your child is a pawn. But a pawn can become a queen when it advances enough. Your child shall be our salvation, leading us into a far brighter future than one under Zeus' rule. I will give you the choice of getting involved further. You could leave America right now. Live far away from the Greek pantheon. Or you could stay and fight. For your son."

Calypso and Leo exchanged glances. This was an opportunity which had never been offered to anyone else ever before. A life without the gods. A life of peace. But there was the arrogant king of the gods who had killed their son. It made them… angry. And no one made Leo and Calypso angry and got away with it. "There's no question. We're staying. And we're in it to win it." said Leo. Calypso's face adopted a grim look. It would take a decade for her to smile again.

Hestia smiled and said "I shall help you. In Las Vegas, you will find a hotel under your ownership. It is fully equipped with anything that you may need, including an underground training facility. I'll also be sending you some demigods from time to time. You will need all the help you can get. I'll even send you one of my old friends who was wronged by Athena. But first, you must raise your child. Now go. Destiny awaits." She handed Leo an electronic device. "That was the last thing your father made before Zeus took away his power. It is the digital interface for the building." she said. It was small enough to fit in his palm, cylindrical, and it hummed with energy. Leo and Calypso looked it over. But when they tried to thank Hestia, she was gone, Leaving only a scrap of paper behind. 'Opposite Lotus Casino' was all it said. Leo finished reading it, and the note vanished into thin air. Leo continued staring into empty space. He felt a tug on his arm and turned to see Calypso gently pulling him towards Las Vegas. "Let's go." she said. Leo nodded, and together, they walked towards Las Vegas, into the sunset.

* * *

 **And it is on! Team Leo versus Olympus! The greatest battle of all time has begun! Until next time, Maria's birthday!-Phoenix.**


	3. Maria Valdez- the First Demititan

**CHAPTER 2**

 **A/N:- Thanks for the lovely reviews people! Really appreciated it!**

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The city of Las Vegas is famous for many things: casinos, hotels, and being the entertainment capital of the world. What it is **not** famous for is the (relatively) puny twenty storied building which lies opposite to the Lotus Casino. The building appears off limits for renovation purposes. The neon panel on the building reads 'ALF OD RESORT.' While most people assume the first two words to have a meaning in some other language, there are few who can see what is truly written, if they focus enough. On concentrating, these select few read the sign as 'HALF-BLOOD RESORT'. As of the moment, there are only two occupants in the entire building. One Leo Valdez and one very pregnant Calypso Valdez.

The date is the first of August. Exactly eight years ago, Leo Valdez destroyed Gaea. Exactly one year ago, Zeus killed Leo and Calypso's son, Samuel Valdez. Their second child being born on this exact same day was nothing short of monumental.

Calypso was in pain. She had gone into labor three hours ago, and baby Valdez didn't seem too eager to get a move on. Samuel Valdez, on the other hand, had taken tem minutes. "Aaargh! How much longer is this going to take?!" Calypso screamed. "Try to relax, Calypso." Leo said soothingly. "I can see the head. Just a little more." Leo was also the person who was helping Calypso deliver the baby, as there was no one else that could do so. Leo, Calypso, and Hestia had agreed that due to the pain of childbirth, Calypso might unintentionally use her titan powers. In a hospital, this would allow Zeus to find them. Which is why they were in their building, which would conceal her power from prying eyes.

"Just push already." Leo said "It can't be that hard."

"IT CAN'T BE THAT HARD?! IT CAN'T BE THAT HARD?! WHY DON'T YOU TRY SHOVING A FOOTBALL UP YOUR ASS AND THEN TELL ME THAT!" Calypso screamed.

"Sorry Sunshine." Leo said. "AAAHHHH!" Calypso screamed again, and this time, her voice alone was enough to knock Leo off his feet. Several objects in the room were thrown around or crushed into tiny balls. Calypso was subconsciously using her powers, and was inflicting the pain she felt on any convenient object. Leo struggled to his feet and inched his way towards Calypso. "Just a little more, Sunshine! It's almost out!" he yelled over the miniature storm caused by Calypso.

"RRRRAAAAAAAA !" Calypso let out one last roar and collapsed back onto the bed, panting heavily. Calypso had given birth at a baby girl. Leo burned off the umbilical cord with his hand. He warmed up his hand and lightly smacked the baby on the back. She coughed thrice, and gave a loud wail. Leo smiled at his crying newborn daughter. "Welcome to the world, Maria Calypso Valdez." he said.

"Whoo! Yeah! I finally did it." Calypso said tiredly "I thought she would never come out." Leo washed Maria in a bowl of warm water, wrapped her in a towel, and gave her to Calypso. Leo helped Calypso sit up straight. Calypso looked at her daughter. She already looked a lot like Leo, with impish features. She had yet to open her eyes, but she could tell that they would be chocolate-brown, just like her father's. She felt her power radiating off her daughter, and she could tell that she was almost as powerful as Percy Jackson was when they had met. Calypso had heard from immortals all around the world and from Hestia who dropped by every now and then that Percy Jackson is the most powerful Greek demigod to have ever walked the earth. If a newborn demititan was nearly as strong as the strongest demigod ever, who knew how powerful she could become.

Calypso had never felt such joy in the past year. She was holding her daughter in her arms, who she would love with all her heart. She didn't care that Maria was a child of a great prophecy. At that moment, her and Leo's daughter was the only thing that mattered, and judging the look in Leo's eyes, she could tell that he was thinking the same thing. They were family, and nothing would separate them. Ever.

Their moment of peace was broken when there were multiple flashes of light. Leo shielded his eyes with his hands as half a dozen gods appeared in the room. Hestia in her rare thirty year old form, Hades with his staff and helm and with his sword on his waist, Demeter wearing a dress made of wheat and her massive scythe, Persephone wearing a garland of flowers around her neck and head, Boreas wearing a very expensive-looking suit with his eyebrows coated with frost, and Khione wearing an ice dress which resembled Elsa's dress from Frozen and had multiple daggers strapped to her waist. The anti-Zeus gods and goddesses had all appeared. Calypso and Leo had both been informed by Hestia that their child would receive blessings from each god as soon as possible, to enable her body to adapt to multiple powers as soon as possible, but this was the first time they had met an immortal aside from Hestia. Leo and Khione exchanged death glares. Hestia noticed this and gently elbowed Khione in the side "You'll have plenty of time to flirt later" she said "We have business right now." Khione's face went red with fury, and a miniature storm cloud appeared above her head "I WAS NOT-" she began, but Boreas put a hand on her shoulder. "Calm yourself Khione. Hestia was only teasing you." he said. Khione looked like she was having some sort of internal struggle, but eventually, she hung her head and mumbled "Okay, father."

Maria had fallen asleep. It was time for her to receive her blessings. Boreas went first. He touched Maria on the forehead and spoke in a low voice "I bless you with the power of the winter wind. It shall answer your command. It will lend you strength, and will unleash winter's fury upon your foes." A blue light appeared where his fingers were touching her forehead and she fidgeted in her sleep.

Khione was next. She placed her left index finger over Maria's heart. "I give you my greatest power, the ice of the soul. You shall have the magic to freeze souls, to overwhelm them with guilt. You shall be able to cause others pain on the greatest magnitude imaginable." Khione lifted her finger from Maria's chest and saw Leo glaring at her. "Relax, Leo Valdez. She will only be able to cause pain to those who deserve it. She can't harm innocents as they have nothing to be guilty about. And before you say that no one is innocent, she has to know what her opponent is guilty of before she can use her power." Leo didn't drop the glare, but he did nod.

Persephone then stepped forward. She placed her hand on the back of Maria's neck. "I bless you with the power to connect with nature. You shall be able to understand plants, and draw energy from all life forms."

Demeter was next. She kept her fingertips on Maria's stomach. "All grain will give you more strength than ambrosia or nectar. I bless you with a perpetually healthy body. You will be strong.

Hades stepped forth. He reached his hand around Maria and rested his middle finger on her spine. "I give you the power of shadows. The darkness will heal you, and it will improve you. I also bestow upon you my sword, the one which can use my keys to release the dead and command them." Leo's eyes widened. Percy had told him all about his quest to recover Hades' lost (and illegal) sword. Persephone had crafted it without Hades' knowledge, and could use the keys of Hades to unlock death. The scary lord of the underworld was being nice, by giving a ten-minute old baby a weapon of power. Hades shot Leo a glare that said _Not one word._ Leo only grinned.

Hestia was the last. She put her forehead right in the middle of Maria's chest. "You shall be the light to those who have lost their way in the dark. You shall be the protector of the innocent, and the executor of justice. You will bring happiness to those who no longer remember it. You will be my champion." At this, all the other gods visibly flinched in shock. Hestia had never chosen a champion before. No one knew what a champion of Hestia was capable of. Hestia started to give off a bright golden glow, which concentrated at her forehead and passed into Maria's chest. Hestia stood up and reverted back to her eight-year old form.

"It is done" Hestia said. "Now all we can do is wait and prepare. Leo, Calypso, you have about seven more years before I start sending demigods your way. Until then, train her. Raise her to be the warrior she is meant to be. But most importantly, remember to be good parents to her."

"Valdez" Khione called out. Leo turned to look at her, openly showing her mild hostility. "The way I see it, you owe me a favor."

"How do I owe **you** a favor?" Leo asked.

"If I hadn't blasted you off your ship all those years ago, you wouldn't have met Calypso. Which reminds me, Calypso, you owe me a favor too. If I hadn't sent you Leo, then you would still be stuck on that island."

Leo gritted his teeth. "When all this is over, we are going to have a duel to decide the winner once and for all." he growled.

"You're on, Valdez."

Hestia looked amused at their antics. But she forced herself to get a move on. All of them had work to do. "It is time for us to leave, Leo, Calypso. I'll see you soon." she said, and disappeared into a fire. Hades melted into shadows, Demeter and Persephone burst into grains and flowers, and Boreas dissipated into a cold wind. Looking around, Khione saw that she was the last goddess left. "Damn them." she muttered under her breath. "We will finish this later, Valdez." she said and dissolved into a flurry of snow.

With the gods gone, Leo and Calypso finally took in their surroundings. Beds were thrown around haphazardly, several expensive instrument had been crushed into marbles, and loose electrical wires were sparking. "Uhhh…" Calypso said "We're going to need to repair the medical ward." Some of the electric equipment randomly burst into flames. Leo nodded his head and said "Agreed."

* * *

 **Maria Valdez is born, and is out to wreak havoc! Now there will be a seven year time skip, because nothing much will be happening without new demigods showing up, or any meetings with old ones. Leo and Calypso will simply spend most of the day training, and will rarely leave Half-Blood resort. Next time, we shall see Maria as a seven year old. And one should always be careful around seven-year old Valdezes. Zeus, you are only seventeen years away from the fight of your life!**

 **Happy reading- Phoenix.**


	4. Cover story

**A/N:- The war is beginnig! Seven gods, a titan, a demititan, the legendary destroyer of the world, and a dozen demigods versus the might of Olympus! I just might forget to put in any more chapters and just put in the final action sequqnce! Nah, just kidding. While I am going to try to make the grand finale as epic as possible, I have several more surprises and action sequences in store. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER:- I own nada. All canon characters go to Rick, but Maria is MINE!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 3**

By human standards, Maria grew awfully fast. She had been big-boned to begin with, and Leo knew enough to be able to tell that a month-old baby trying to stand on her feet was unheard of. Her teeth had grown in when she was six months old, and could walk independently with good balance by the time she was one year old. At the age of two, she could speak better than most kids twice her age.

Leo had asked Hestia whether this was a side effect of all the blessings she had received, and she had said no. Hestia had speculated that it was probably because she was half-titan and quarter- god at the same time. While Demeter's blessing would make her extremely healthy, it would not change her growth rate. Since she was the first demititan, there was no reference that could be taken, and her rapid growth and intelligence would most likely be caused by her titan genes.

Leo hand Calypso had been extremely worried when Maria had found and tried to lift Hades' sword at the age of three. The sword was too heavy for Leo, and Calypso relied on her titan strength to use it. But Maria had actually managed to lift one end of it. When Maria had tripped and fallen down an entire flight of stairs, her injuries had healed completely within a minute. Her intelligence was uncanny. She could solve basic quadratic equations when other kids her age would be learning about the existence of numbers.

A four year old Maria was tiptoeing past her parents room. While she was normally very noisy, stealth was necessary this time. Maria was, as anyone would be after living their whole life in the same building, bored. Bored out of her mind. She had somehow managed to convince herself that she would go crazy if she stayed cooped up (as cooped up as you can get in a twenty storied building) any longer. She silently made her way down (living space was on floor four) to the ground floor. While the elevator was silent, she had figured out after three escape attempts that her parents could tell when the elevator was being used.

She slipped through the lobby and hid under the front desk. She knew that there was no one looking, but the last time she had been careless, a net had landed on top of her and had set off all the alarms in the hotel. She took slow, careful steps, avoiding tiles that looked funny, inching her way towards the front door. She was being so careful about her footing, that she collided with something very tall.

When Maria looked up, she realized that the very tall something was her mother. "What are you doing out of bed at two in the morning, young lady?" Calypso asked sternly.

"Uhhhh…. I was errr…. sleepwalking?" Maria said in her adorable four year old voice.

Calypso sighed "Come on, to bed with you."

"Aww, but .."

"I know you want to see the outside world, Maria, but it is just too dangerous."

"Pleeease, _madre_?" Maria begged, giving Calypso he puppy dog eyes look. It almost always worked on her _padre_ , but never on her _madre_. But that didn't mean that she was going to stop trying.

"Too dangerous."

"But I can even do this!" Maria whined, and summoned a small fireball in her hands. She had discovered that she could summon fire a month ago, just like her dad and 'Aunt Hestia.'

"I'll take you out when you finish reading 'War and Peace.'"

" But _maadreee_! It's so boring!"

"You fell asleep after reading half a page."

"Exactly!"

Calypso ignored Maria and picked her up and carried her back to her room, ignoring her complaints all the way. The electric lock on Maria's door had been short circuited, and the physical lock appeared to have been broken by an immense force.

"Goodnight, Maria."

"Goodnight mom."

Calypso gently shut the door and waved her hand over the broken locks, which instantly began to repair themselves. She made her way back to her room, where Leo was waiting for her.

* * *

"How did she do?" Leo asked.

"She almost made it. If I hadn't sensed her when I did, she would have made it to Florida."

"We have to do something. It's only a matter of time before she figures out how to hide her energy from us."

"Why did she have to take after you?"

"Hey, taking after the supersized McShizzle man isn't bad." Leo said, mock hurt showing on his face. But it faded away instantly, and his normal grin came back. "But jokes apart, I don't think that we can contain her for much longer."

"Me neither. She short-circuited the electric lock on her door and destroyed the physical one."

"Wait, she destroyed it? Without us hearing?"

"Yes. I would say she used brute force, but since it made no sound, it has to be…."

"Her titanic powers?"

"Yes. She has learned how to handle electricity, telekinesis, and her fire has grown stronger. She doesn't know that she has telekinesis, and is probably thinking that it is just her strength. It is only a matter of time before she realizes her potential. It will take her two years at most before she learns how to teleport. We have to think of something."

"Perhaps I can help." A new voice said. Hestia had appeared in her eight year old form.

"How?" Leo and Calypso asked simultaneously.

"Simple. Take her out. I believe that she can go to kindergarten now."

"Not possible. Even I can easily sense her presence. There is no way that **_he_** will not find her, especially with half a dozen gods having blessed her."

"There is someone who can help. I have a god on the inside. Apollo holds an important position on the Olympian council , and **_he_** will not suspect Apollo of being involved in any major plot, especially after having punished him badly enough. He can cover Maria with his aura. He has several children, so **_he_** will not suspect anything."

Leo and Calypso had both heard how Apollo had been turned into a mortal named Lester Papado-something and had to retake the oracle of Delphi and had to take down Emperor Nero. Leo and Calypso had provided some behind the scenes help in taking down Python, but they had escaped before anyone had seen them. Except perhaps the dual scimitar wielding daughter of Demeter. Nero had not lived to be able to tell on them. Apollo's horrible history with **_him_** would mean that they wouldn't be betrayed.

"Either way, Maria will not blossom into a true warrior without being able to connect with people other than the warrior friends which she will be getting. soon enough. I'll send you details about an orphaned child of Apollo next week. The adoption papers will have already been filled. Also, start training yourselves. You two will be taking a trip to Tartarus with…."

"What?" Leo and Calypso asked simultaneously in deadly voices.

"You two will be taking a trip to Tartarus with…."

"We heard what you said. I am beginning to question your sanity, Hestia." Calypso deadpanned.

"Let me finish!" Hestia pouted "You two will be taking a trip to Tartarus with Hades in ten years. One of his daughters was trapped there in the house of Nyx seven hundred and twenty two years ago while trying to discover America. Opened the first American pit to Tartarus. She is cursed so that she is still alive, and still biologically fifteen years old. There is also another friend of mine down there who will join us. I shall tell you the details in due time. Apollo will be here tomorrow, six in the morning. The card which I obtained for you from the Lotus Casino should help with the money a bit, but don't overdo it. Putting all that money in a bank will have you hounded by enough mortals so that even Hecate will be unable to fool them. I've left the details regarding your new bank accounts in your drawer. Farewell." And with a burst of fire, Hestia disappeared.

"I hate it when she does that." Calypso muttered.

"Does what?"

"Appears, gives us a bunch of extremely helpful information **and** fills up all loopholes in her arguments, making it impossible to argue with her. I haven't had a nice argument in three thousand years."

"Well, what about that time with that group of guys who tried to flirt with you on the beach in France?" Leo asked teasingly.

Calypso blushed heavily.

"And that time in India when that guy said that you should show all guys respect because you are a girl? He spent a month in the ICU."

Calypso's blush deepened.

"And that time in Australia when…"

"I thought we agreed never to mention that incident again!"

"But that one's my favorite!"

" I don't care!"

"Well, then, how about that time in Britain at that swimming pool when…"

"I have zero tolerance for guys who try to flirt with me just because I look good in a swimsuit!"

"Hey, I flirted with you because you looked good in a swimsuit!"

"When did you see me in a swimsuit on Ogygia?"

"The seventh night that I spent there. I was awake when you checked on me. I watched you take a dip in the ocean. I also saw the part where you got rid of the swisuit, all the way up to when you went back to your cave. That had been the best night in my life until then. "

If Calypso had fire powers, she was sure that she would be on fire at that moment. "Pervert." she mumbled.

Leo grinned and continued "And how about that time in Pakistan…"

"Okay! Okay! I get the idea! What I meant was that I haven't had a good argument with an immortal in eons. My arguments work best when I am in titan form. Mortals tend to spontaneously combust just by getting close to me."

"Well, why didn't you just say so?"

"I'm not Hestia. I leave room for arguments." Calypso's voice was steadying and the blush was fading. "Sleep now, Apollo will be here in three hours."

The first thing everyone said about Apollo was that he liked dramatic entrances. From crashing a school bus to appear like a meteorite, leaving a crater in the ground, every single time he showed up, he tended to destroy something or the other. But for the first time in his life, he entered the Alf Od Resort with no noise. He appeared in the doorway, only to have a little girl crash into him. She stumbled back and fell on her butt, setting off the intruder alarm.

"Aw man! Foiled again!" The girl complained. Apollo tilted his head and looked at her, intrigued.

The girl looked up at him after rubbing her head. "Wait, who are you?" she asked.

"I am the god Apollo!" he said in his booming voice, his body glowing like the sun "God of the sun, music,.."

"Maria Calypso Valdez, nice ta meet ya."

Apollo looked at the girl who was smiling cheekily at him. "Didn't your parents tell you not to interrupt gods?"

"No, but Auntie Hestia told me to kick gods in the groin if they started rambling. I'm just not tall enough yet."

Apollo's jaw dropped. The sheer amount of guts this girl was displaying was enough to match Ares. Before Apollo could retaliate, the girl's parents came out through the elevator door.

"Lord Apollo." they said and bowed.

"Now, girl. See your parents? Now they have manners."

"Wait, Maria? What are you doing here?" Leo asked, turning his attention to his daughter.

She let out a nervous laugh "I was uh…."

"You were trying to escape, weren't you?" Calypso asked.

"Ran into me the moment I appeared in the front door." Apollo said. He was shocked at how a four-year old could give such a dirty look.

Leo laughed "Now that's my _hija_! Trying to escape twice in one night! Very smart! Just like your _padre!_ Now come and give me a hug!"

Maria giggled and ran to embrace her _padre._

"Don't encourage her." Calypso grumbled. "You're not the one who has to stop her every night."

"Hey, Apollo! How are you? Haven't since you since python!"

"Wait, you mean you were the ones who helped out?"

"Duh! I think that Festus was a pretty big giveaway as to who was helping you."

"Oh." Apollo said while scratching at the back of his neck, embarrassed that he had missed such an obvious clue.

"It was so obvious! Anyway, how's the practice with the Valdezinator coming along?"

"It's great! I managed to recreate all of Mozart's symphonies on it! However, it tends to break down whenever I play any of Justin Beiber's songs on it."

"You dare play Justin Bieber on my beautiful Valdezinator?! How dare you! No wonder it breaks down! It cannot survive such a blatant insult to music!"

Calypso cleared her throat "Ahem. As much as I enjoy this, we do have business to attend to."

"Oh, right." Leo and Apollo said sheepishly.

"Come along, _hija_. Uncle Apollo is going to help you go outside." Leo said.

"Outside?" Maria asked, her eyes wide and shining.

"Yep. But first, he needs to mask your aura."

"Oooh, okay okay!" Maria yelled hurriedly and scampered over to Apollo. She may not have known what her _padre_ meant by having to mask her aura, but if it meant that she could go outside, she was willing to put up with it. She looked Apollo right in the eye.

"Do it!" she said.

"Close your eyes." Apollo said as his body began to glow. He held out his palm as it began to glow with the full power of the sun. A beam of light shot out and engulfed Maria, causing her to scream in pain.

"What are you doing?!" Calypso roared, the force of her voice nearly knocking Apollo off his feet.

"Relax. It's just like getting a tattoo. Over your whole body. At the same time."

Calypso seemed satisfied, but that didn't stop her from glaring at Apollo, ready to jump is should he try to cause Maria significant physical damage. Twenty seconds later, the light show ended and Maria collapsed on the floor, unconscious. Calypso rushed forward and checked Maria's vitals. She sighed in relief when she observed that Maria was still completely fine.

Apollo's spell had its intended effect, as Calypso could barely sense Maria's original power under all of Apollo's, even with direct contact. Anyone would assume that she was just an unusually powerful daughter of Apollo.

"With luck, the spell will last for fifteen years. But something tells me that the big showdown is going to happen before that. Now, excuse me, because I have to get back to Olympus before **_he_** notices my absence." With that, Apollo dissolved into light.

Leo and Calypso gazed at their sleeping daughter. All precautionary procedures had been completed. Now the only thing left was for Maria to train and grow up.

* * *

 **A/N:- Another chapter done! Thanks to all reviewers (both of them). Try and guess who else is going to be rescued from Tartarus! Leave your guesses in the reviews. All those of you who are right will get to gloat about it when chapter 15-ish something comes out. Clue:- She is not overly fond of Leo Valdez. And by that, I mean that she will try to kill him in sight. This clue is canon! The one mentioned in the text is not. I will give the next and last clue in the chapter before they enter Tartarus.R &R!**

 **-Phoenix**

 **Next Time:- The daughter of Apollo and every child's worst nightmare-School.**


	5. School

**CHAPTER 4**

"So, this is the 'school'?" a six-year old Maria Valdez asked her parents. Leo and Calypso had decided to let their daughter have at least a partially normal childhood. So, along with Sunny Sol (Really, Apollo?!), the adopted, orphaned daughter of Apollo, Maria would be going to school.

Sunny was an energetic girl, as well as a little mischievous. In Leo's words, she was 'a little Devil hiding in a professionally made Angel suit.' She was worse than Maria, sneaking cookies and chocolates out of the kitchen and then playing innocent well enough to fool most. She possessed the normal demigod quirks- dyslexia, ADHD, and impeccable instincts. So far, she had shown no interest in throwing things, which insinuated that she was no archer.

Leo had enrolled Sunny and Maria into an ordinary school, named 'Primrose Elementary School.' Honestly, he knew that there were better schools, but this school was so obscure, that no one would ever think of looking there for, well… anything.

"Yes girls, this is your school. We'll be back to pick you up at five in the evening, okay?" Calypso said.

"So, mom?" Sunny asked.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"We are going to be stuck in there for nine hours?"

"Yes."

"With nothing to do?! It's gonna be so boring!"

"No it's not! We can always beat up the other kids!"

"No, Maria." Leo said sternly "No fighting in school. Remember, you are here to learn stuff like math and science, and not how to break bones."

"But _Padreeeee_ , I already know how to solve quadratic equations, and I am learning Newtonian mechanics! What else am I supposed to do?"

"Keep Sunny company. Do not fight."

"But what if someone else starts the fight?" Sunny asked, with a gleam in her eyes "Can we beat them up then?" Both girls were nearly jumping in anticipation of the answer. Leo and Calypso shared a weary look, and it was only the first day of school, and answered as one.

 **"NO."**

Both girls' faces fell.

"Awww man." Maria muttered.

Leo looked at his watch. "Well, girls, it's time to go now. Today will be introduction day, so have fun!"

Sunny's face brightened slightly, but Maria still appeared depressed.

"We will!" Sunny answered. "See ya!" she yelled over her shoulder while dragging Maria along. Leo and Calypso could only look as the small figures of their daughters entered the school willingly, unlike most others. As they looked at each other Leo and Calypso shared a common thought.

 _'They grow so fast.'_

* * *

Maria and Sunny walked through the school gates before realizing one very important problem- they had no idea where to go.

"Um, excuse me?" Sunny asked a boy nearly twice her height, who ignored, or didn't notice her to begin with.

"Hello, could you please…" Maria began, but realized that the person she was talking to had vanished.

"A little help?"

"Can someone direct us to…"

"Do you…"

"Miss, do you by any chance…"

After several failed attempts, both girls were getting annoyed, one significantly more than the other.

Maria was at her breaking point. To her, it seemed as if everyone was ignoring her on purpose. She was just about to shout out loud enough to break a few eardrums, when Sunny saved the day.

"This way Mar! I think that's our class!" And so, Sunny dragged her sister off to class.

* * *

"What a surprise to see you here." Calypso said drily. She and Leo had been shopping, when they had run into an eight year old who was shopping by herself. Only one being fit that description.

"Of course it wasn't, even I have to do my shopping sometimes." Hestia replied, using the tiniest burst of magic to knock down a container of chips from the top shelf, right into her hand.

"Either way, I take it this isn't a social call?"

"You're right, it isn't." Hestia said, before jumping up and grabbing a box of frozen pizza "I have the date of the battle. It will be on the winter solstice before she turns sixteen. It is the only time when she can get into Olympus without setting off any alarms."

"I don't get it." Leo said "I'm pretty sure that Calypso could take **him** single-handedly, so why wait? If all of us simply charge Olympus now, we could win."

Hestia shook her head "It's not that simple, Leo. There is a reason why we can't charge him head-on without your daughter. The title of "King of the Gods" isn't just a title. It's a power, a controller of sorts which he has. It is a simple, weak power, yet it is based on the nature of things, and cannot be overcome by anyone."

"Which means….." Calypso trailed off.

"I am a god, so no matter how powerful I am, I cannot go against him. Not without your daughter, at least."

"What do you mean?"

"Your daughter is the most unique being I have ever seen. Part titan, part god, part mortal, part primordial, and such, has become something else entirely. She has godly blood, which falls under his power, but her titan and mortal blood does not. This gives her a very special link to his power, because she subconsciously knows how to break it."

Leo frowned "Although, one thing bothers me. You said Maria was part primordial. How?"

Hestia laughed "Why, Leo, what do you think happened to all of Gaea's power? Do you think you vaporized it along with her? The power lies within you, Leo Valdez, as does it within your daughter. It is no coincidence that the prophecy was delivered when it was, nor whom it was about."

"How very convenient."

"It is. She is the one person on earth who can do what she can do."

"So, once she's older, she'll be able to free you from **his** power?" Leo asked.

Hestia chuckled, adding perfume to her cart "That and much more. Tell me, did you know that I actually had one other champion a while ago?"

Calypso frowned "There have never been many records of you meddling with mortal affairs, let alone having a champion."

"I did. Her name may not mean much to you, Calypso, but Leo is sure to understand. Her name was Mary Sue."

Leo's jaw dropped "You're kidding, right?"

"I most certainly am not."

"Then why is Maria like….. Maria? Mary Sue didn't keep her parents up all night with her wailing!" Leo said indignantly.

"That's because my power is being used up in keeping her body in one piece. Carrying the blessings of six gods is no mean feat, Especially if Hades is involved. However, once her body adapts to the strain, my power will surface."

"What exactly **is** your power?" Calypso asked, looking down at the girl who didn't even make it past her waist.

Hestia shrugged "Who knows? Even I don't know. Mary was perfect, although my power isn't granting perfection. It could be the same for Maria, it could be different. My power is old, and part of it derived from Kronos, which makes it far too unpredictable. But rest assured… Leo, what are you doing?" Calypso looked at Leo, but saw nothing wrong. But then she noticed their shopping cart, and she immediately realized what Hestia had been referring to.

Their cart was filled to the brim with bottles of chocolate milk, frozen pizzas, lasagnas, chips, chocolates, coffee powder, taco ingredients, and no end of other junk foods.

"Leo, you can't spoil the girls like this." Calypso protested.

"This isn't for the girls, this is for me!" Silence followed, punctuated by Hestia's attempts at hiding her giggles. Calypso's face took on a serious countenance.

"Oh no you don't. Put those back this instant!" Calypso growled.

"Hell no, woman! I'm a grown man now, and I can buy whatever I want!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!"

"Oh come on! I've been dreaming of this moment since I was four!"

"Too bad. Now, put it all back."

"No!"

Amidst their bickering, they failed to notice that a certain eight year old had walked off, leaving a note on the top of their cart.

 _"Born of the cold and winter air_

 _And mountain rain combining"_

* * *

The two parents waited outside the school, waiting for their daughters to emerge. Within minutes, they were awarded with the sight of two girls, one with curly black hair and dark skin and the other with smooth, but messy blonde hair and a pearly-white complexion, quite bruised and battered, leaning on each other for support.

"Hey! I thought we told you girls not to fight!"

"Not my fault, dad. That Chris guy started it." the curly-haired one said.

"Yeah!" the blonde agreed "He tried to trip me, so we beat him up!"

The other parent sighed "Why did they have to inherit our battle genes? Would it have been so hard for them to have been peaceful, kind, and fun-loving kids?"

"Hey!" the curly-haired one protested "We're fun-loving!"

"And kind!"

"And peaceful!"

"Unless they mess with us." Both girls finished in unison.

Percy Jackson sighed, and looked at his daughter, Lacy Jackson, who was the spitting image of her mother, save for the fact that her eyes were sea-green. "Lacy, you can't just beat people up because you can."

"Same goes for you, Susan Zhang." Hazel reprimanded "Your father may be ex-praetor, but that does not mean that you can beat up everyone that bothers you. An old friend of mine once told me that if you oppose bullies, they just go farther. Ignore them, and they will move on."

"Wow, mom." Susan said, rolling her eyes "That was a great speech. It sounds as if someone made it up in ten seconds."

"It was five, actually." Percy interrupted.

"Sounds stupid to me." Lacy mumbled.

"Hey now! Don't underestimate him! He was the greatest demigod of our generation!"

"I thought that Leo Valdez was intelligent." Lacy said.

"Well, to be fair to him, he made it up as we were passing through a flock of harpies, so it can't be helped." Hazel said "Now here's a little ambrosia for the two of you, and I don't want to hear about any more fights. Got it?" Hazel said sternly.

Susan and Lacy froze at the expression on Hazel's face "Yes ma'am!" they both squeaked.

Percy let out a hearty laugh as he waved goodbye to Hazel and led Lacy back to his house. All was well in New Rome.

* * *

 **A/N:- Really sorry for the excessive wait. I literally had exams for three months running, and writing this story is no mean feat. I have the ENTIRE final battle scripted already, but the problem is putting stuff in the middle. I know exactly what has to happen, but putting it in words is tough.**

 **I promise I will be more regular from now on. I have all day to write, after all.**

 **-Phoenix.**


	6. Cold Terror

**A/N:- Well here we go! Another chapter in the same week. I was totally on a roll writing this and I forgot to take a nap. Enjoy!**

 **Does it look like I own anything? Does it? Well, there's Maria and the whole plethora of OC's that will be appearing, but unfortunately, I was unable to steal the rights to Leo. _'Sobs quietly in a corner.'_**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 5**

As per Hestia's instructions, Leo and Calypso waited. They were currently standing in a dark alley, waiting for their targets to show up. And judging by the note that Hestia had left, Leo could take a pretty good guess who their targets were.

Maria and Sunny had been successfully sent to prison ("School" Calypso reminded him.) for a week now, and he was really beginning to pick up the pace with his training. Calypso was gaining power every day, but it still wouldn't be enough. He needed enough power to be able to fight the rest of the seven at the same time and she needed enough power to hold off half the Olympians. Maria would need enough power to fight the King of the Gods all by herself.

Leo felt as if the fates were laughing in his face. It was almost as if they had thought _'Hey, how about we pick on Leo Valdez? Let's give him fire powers so that he's targeted and his mother dies! Then, we could put him through a traumatizing childhood with a series of abusive foster parents! Then, let the foster parents which are actually nice to him be murdered right in front of his eyes. On top of that, let's put the fate of the world on his shoulders, and kill him while he's at it! Once he's back and has his brief period of happiness, let's kill his son for the fun of seeing Leo suffer! Then, let's put the fate of the world on his daughter's shoulders! It will be so much fun!"_ In fact, Leo was pretty sure that the Fates had done just that to liven up their boring lives.

Leo was snapped out of his thoughts as Calypso nudged him and pointed at the end of the alley. Two figures had just entered. They didn't look much older than seven. They both had short, golden-brown hair, although one of them had a far rougher haircut than the other. Their skin was pale, almost comparable to Nico's. Their clothes were torn and grimy and disheveled. They were both slightly injured, and the arm of the one with the messy haircut was lined with bruises. For an instant, Leo thought he was looking at a past version of himself.

"That's them." Calypso said "They're pretty strong for their age, but not phenomenally powerful like Percy. I'd say they are as strong as you were when you were their age." Leo nodded. The two demigods came closer, unaware of Leo and Calypso hiding in the shadows.

"That was close." The one with relatively good hair said "You all right, Susan?"

"I'm fine. But we gotta keep moving or else they'll find us in no time!" The one with the rough haircut, Susan said.

"How many times has it been?"

Both demigods jumped at Leo's voice. He emerged from the shadows, carefully watching both their movements. They immediately took a few steps back before bumping into the other end of the alley.

"Who are you? What do you want from us?" Susan said, her voice forcibly controlled.

Leo raised his hands in surrender "Hey, I come in peace! I mean you no harm. I was just asking how many times you've run away?"

"How do you know about that?" The other one asked.

"I've been a runaway long enough to know one when I see one." Leo said. He kept his distance, knowing that at the moment, both demigods in front of him were one step away from bursting into a sprint.

"This is our second time."

"Rick! Shut it!" Susan said, elbowing the boy, Rick in his side, hard "If you know what's good for you, leave us alone." Leo felt the temperature drop, and frost began to crawl over the walls, even though it was late August. Susan's hands were in front of her, curved into claws, and ice coated her nails, making them incredibly sharp.

Suddenly, the temperature stabilized. Susan frowned, but the temperature began to increase instead. The eyes of the two young demigods widened as the frost began to recede, and the ice on Susan's fingers melted.

"Rick! Cover!" Susan yelled. Rick thrust his arms forwards, and a wall of ice formed between them and Leo, but before they could take a single step, Leo stepped through the wall as if it wasn't even there, the ice falling apart at his touch. Susan growled and drew a Swiss army knife from her pocket and held it in front of her defensively. With a yell, she charged at Leo.

But Leo was an experienced demigod who had sparred with people who were masters at using knives. Susan, on the other hand, was a novice with little experience and next to no skill. The knife was kicked cleanly out of her hands. It sailed through the air, and was caught by Leo.

"W-what are you?" Rick managed to say. Leo extended his arm and set it on fire.

"You're not the only ones who can do weird stuff." He said as he handed the knife back to Susan. Susan looked at Leo suspiciously before accepting the knife.

"How do we know that we can trust you?" Susan asked.

"Runaways' oath." Susan's eyes widened.

"Hmph. So you were telling the truth. What now, old man?"

"Calling me names already, are we? I'll have you know, I'm only thirty years old!"

"You're still old. And short."

"Now I realize why people thought I was annoying." Leo said, rubbing his forehead "I like you! Calypso, let's get out of here before the cops show up."

Calypso stepped out of the shadows. Susan and Rick's jaws dropped as they looked at the woman who towered over them.

"Lady, you are tall." Susan said, staring at Calypso's awesome height.

"Why, thank you." Calypso said as she grabbed something in midair. She pulled, and a door opened in the middle of the alley. There was no doorframe, only a void in the middle of thin air. "Come on."

Leo stepped through, followed by a hesitant Rick and a wary Susan. Calypso entered last, closing the imaginary door, and the alley was left empty.

Calypso, Leo, Susan and Rick walked through imaginary space, surrounded by various scenes and colors, and through another doorway that Calypso opened and into the hotel lobby.

"Whoa, lady. What was that?" Susan asked.

"Imaginary space. A distorted dimension overlapping ours, where distance is meaningless." Calypso explained as Leo opened the elevator doors.

"Come on, I'll show you where to sleep." Leo said.

"What makes you think we want to sleep?" Susan asked, stepping into the elevator.

"Like I said, I'm a pro at running away. Believe it or not, I know more about what you need right now than you do."

"Good thing I don't believe you, then."

"Oh, great. She's exactly like you, Leo." Calypso groaned.

"There's nothing wrong with being like me!" Leo protested.

"There might be, once you think about who her parents might be."

"Hey! What do you mean by that? What do you know about my parents?!" Susan demanded, while Leo turned slightly green in realization.

"I'll explain everything when you two wake up." Calypso said gently.

"You know about my parents too?" Rick asked, his eyes wide.

Leo frowned in confusion "I thought you guys were siblings."

"Most people do." Rick said timidly "We look alike, and even our past makes it look like we're probably twins, and we even have nearly the same powers, but we aren't."

The elevator doors opened, and Calypso walked out, and towards the common space on the fourth floor, with the other three struggling to keep up with her long strides.

"You guys can sleep on the couches for now until we get your rooms ready." Leo said, while Calypso set down two cups in front of Rick and Susan, and poured a small quantity of golden liquid into them.

"Drink up and you'll be fine." Calypso said. Rick reached out for the cup, but Susan stopped him. She picked up her own cup and tasted a drop, and her eyes widened.

"The hell is this?! Why does this taste exactly like my mom's strawberry salad?!" Susan yelled.

"That's nectar, literally the drink of the gods. It tastes exactly like your favorite food." Leo said. Upon hearing this, Rick eagerly picked up his cup and drained the contents in one go, savoring the taste. Tears sprang from his eyes.

"This…..this tastes just like my father's special Vanilla ice-cream!" Rick exclaimed, letting the taste linger for as long as possible. He put his cup down and leaned into the cushions. His eyes widened, and he lifted his shirt, revealing some scars across his abdomen, and a few bruises that disappeared in an instant.

"Okay, what the hell was that?" Susan asked, completely shocked.

"Oh, and it also has healing powers." Leo said. Susan swallowed her entire dose without letting another drop touch her tongue. The memories the taste brought were just too painful. She sighed in relief as the bruises and cuts on her body began to disappear.

"Can I have some more?" Rick asked hopefully. Leo chuckled.

"Sorry, kid, but too much of it will burn you up from the inside out. Take a nap now, it will do you more good than the nectar." Rick nodded, slightly disappointed. His body tilted sideways, and he fell asleep the moment his head came in contact with the couch cushions. Susan grimaced, looking at Rick through the corner of her eyes, all the while keeping her attention on Leo and Calypso in case they did something suspicious.

"Alright, now you're going to tell me about my parents." Susan said, glaring. Calypso and Leo exchanged glances.

"I'll handle this. You go and pick them up." Leo said. Calypso agreed wordlessly and left. Once she closed the door behind her, Leo turned fully towards Susan. "Okay kiddo, where should I start?"

"How about at the part where you mentioned you knew my parents?"

"I can't say I know both, but I definitely know about at least one." Susan kept her glare focused on Leo. "You said that your mother made strawberry salad, right? So you never knew your father?"

"Nope."

"So…. ummmm, how do I put this? Your father is…..ummmm… kinda-sorta…"

"Just get to the point already, old man!" Susan yelled.

"Old, am I?" Leo said with a grin on his face "Just wait till you hear how old your dad is! In fact, he's an ancient Greek god! Same goes for Rick's mom and my dad." Leo looked at Susan, only to find a fearsome scowl on her face.

"Stop bullshitting me! No way in hell is my dad a god!" Susan yelled, slamming her fist into the table.

"It's the truth." Leo said simply "Mind you, I didn't take it well the first time either."

"Oh yeah? If my dad is a god, then where the hell was he when I was a kid? Where was he when they broke into our house? Where was he when they raped my mother in front of me?!" Susan was screaming, and the temperatures were getting a little too low "Where was he when they killed her?! Where was he when I was sent into that damned foster system? Where was he when that pathetic excuse of a foster father raped me?! Where was he when I was forced to kill my friend because she couldn't take the abuse?!" Susan let out a sob, and she dropped her head into her hands, letting her tears flow freely, and the temperature stopped falling.

Leo winced at Susan's story, which brought back not-so-pleasant memories of his own. He got up and sat next to her, but kept his distance.

"Believe me, he wanted to. But someone even stronger than him stopped him."

"That's no excuse!" Susan wailed "He's a frickin' god!"

"And the king of the gods is even stronger than him. It's _his_ fault, not your dad's."

Susan forcibly stopped crying, and wiped her tears on the back of her hand.

"You know, you're taking this better than I did. I mean, who just believes other people when they say that gods are real?" Leo asked, genuinely surprised at how quickly the girl had accepted the existence of gods.

Susan shrugged "We have superpowers. Gods aren't that much of an impossibility."

Leo sighed and leaned into the couch cushions "You've been through a lot, and I know how you feel."

"Oh really?" Susan asked skeptically "I suppose you know how it feels to have an overweight…"

"As a matter of fact, I do." Leo said, cutting her off "And it wasn't pleasant."

"Oh."

"But you know what? The best way to get over it is through humor. Just laugh it off, and you'll automatically start feeling better."

"It's not possible to view something like that as 'laughable.'"

"Oh yes it is. Personally speaking, it was a pain in the butt." Leo said, flashing one of his signature Valdez grins. Susan's jaw dropped. "Go ahead and try it out. It may be really painful to begin with, but the more you laugh about it, the better you'll feel."

"Well, for me, it was a pain in the neck as well." Susan said. Leo's grin went from signature Valdez grin to approval grin.

"See, now you're getting it!"

"You're right, it is funnier this way. How about this- his jet had faulty thrusters." Susan and Leo shared a laugh.

"So, how did you escape him?" Leo asked.

Susan gave a devilish smile "I didn't."

"Then…."

"He was going at it one night, and he…. said something about my mother. I know he was lying now, but in the mess of emotions then, I got really angry, and my powers manifested." She held up her hand, and ice formed over her fingers, forming three-inch nails. "I thought that he was pretty heartless, so I decided to check." Susan thrust her palm forward, nails first. Her hand curled around something midair, and she violently pulled it back. Leo winced. "Without even bothering to dress, I dragged his naked body to the police station with one hand, his heart in the other. I was the most popular kid in America for the week."

"Oh, that was you? But damn! You've got guts, kid." Leo said "I didn't kill mine until I was eighteen."

"How did you do it?" Susan asked, genuinely curious.

"I dropped a miniature nuke on his house. Sure, I blew out all the windows on the block and the nearby houses were pretty damaged, but I took care of the radiation and there were no victims of crossfire."

"A nuke?! You're more fun than I thought, old man."

"Girl, I'm not old! And the name's Leo Valdez, got that?"

Susan's eyes widened "Leo Valdez as in _the_ Leo Valdez who made it halfway across America in four days?"

"I'm still famous?" Leo asked, his grin threatening to expand past the boundary of his face.

"Nah, I heard it from the Alley Eagles, your old gang. You still hold the record, though."

"So you ran into those guys?"

"Ran into them? More like joined them."

"Really?!" Simultaneously, Leo and Susan rolled up their left sleeves, exposing their shoulders, as well as the matching eagle tattoos on them.

"Sweet." Susan said "I think I'll call you uncle Leo."

"That might not be too far off." Leo said, looking at a spot above Susan's head. "You've been claimed." Susan looked up.

"Why the hell is there a storm cloud above my head?!" she yelled.

"Well, your dad is Boreas, god of the winter winds. That's his symbol." Leo announced "I guess that explains a few things. Although I'm relieved. For a minute, I was worried that you were a daughter of Khione."

"Boreas and Khione" Susan muttered "Who are those two again?"

"They're Greek gods. Boreas is silent for the most part, but overall, he's an okay guy. Always keeps his cool. Well, he is the god of winter winds, so I suppose keeping his cool shouldn't be too hard. And then there's Khione, goddess of ice and snow. You know the evil Elsa theories and stuff for Frozen?" Susan nodded. "Well, that's Khione, except she's much weaker than Elsa. She's always losing her cool. And by losing her cool, I mean she throws it at others. That woman is a psycho." Leo said. As soon as he was done, a snowball flew through the air and hit him in the face.

"See what I mean?" Leo said, wiping the snow away with a flaming hand, while Susan laughed openly. Leo frowned "Hey, wait a minute….. Khione, what are you doing here?" Another snowball crashed into the side of his head. He turned towards the source, which was also where Rick was sleeping. And over his head, there was a glowing snowflake.

"So his mom is Khione. How on earth does someone as timid as him have a mom as psycho as that?" Another snowball hit Leo in the back of his head. "Will you quit it?!" Leo yelled "I'm gonna be having serious words with your dad when he shows up!" There were no more snowballs.

"Sheesh, she's cool, but she's afraid of her dad. Bummer."

"She's also your half-sister. Her father is Boreas as well."

"Wait, does this mean that I'm Rick's aunt?"

"It's too confusing when you think of it like that. Godly DNA is different from human DNA. It bonds with human gene patterns and spontaneously creates new ones. Technically, he is your nephew, but on a genetic level, you two probably don't have any common genes." Leo explained. Susan turned towards Rick and gazed at him. "What is it between you two anyway?" Leo asked.

"It's not love, if that's what you're asking." Susan said "He was the only person I knew with powers, and he was also there to help me after I had to kill my best friend. He helped me escape the orphanage twice. He may appear to be timid, but mentally, he is quick and cruel, so we formed a partnership. He comes up with the most efficient way to escape, and I handle the fighting."

Any further conversation was interrupted by the sound of the resort door opening, accompanied by the voices of two young girls.

"Hey, Susan, how would you like to meet my daughters?"

"Wait, you have kids?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Who the hell would marry you?"

Leo scoffed "Girl, you have yet to experience the Valdez charm. It's irresistible."

"Sure, if you say so." Susan said sarcastically "Who's the mom?"

"Calypso. You know, the one who was with me when we picked you up?"

"But…. but she's a knockout! How the hell did you get her to fall for you?!"

"Like I said, Valdez charm. Now, are you ready to meet Sunny and Maria? Sunny's adopted and not a very good fighter, but Maria is my daughter with Calypso, and she's as much of a fighter as you are, if not more."

Susan raised an eyebrow "Oh really? No one is as much of a fighter as I am."

"Is that a challenge?"

Susan turned towards the source of the voice. Her eyes met those of Maria Valdez. Brown eyes met blue. "As a matter of fact, it is."

"Perfect." Maria said. She walked over to Susan, who was four inches shorter than she was. She stuck out her arm "Maria Valdez." She introduced herself.

Susan gripped Maria's hand with her own "Susan Winters."

"Nice to meet you Susan." Maria said, smirking "I'll see you in the sparring room in five. Show her the way, _Padre_." With that, Maria left the common space, with Sunny complaining about how she shouldn't just challenge people to fights, while Maria protested that it wasn't her who issued the challenge.

"Say, Susan. How would you like to help take revenge on the god that made your life hell?" Leo asked.

Susan's eyes widened for an instant, before her expression morphed into an evil smirk.

"I'd love to."

* * *

 **A/N:- And tadaa! Two more demigods have joined the group! I was on a roll this time, so don't expect updates this often.**

 **The review button is right here, people. You don't need to sign in to give your inputs on this, you know! Reviews really help. (And also provide incentive to write faster.)**

 **Please do leave your opinions on this.**

 **-Phoenix.**


	7. Parental Guidance

**A/N:- Here we go! Another chapter for Maria, and also minor action sequence! Introducing two new demigods. One who is practically Leo, except she is psycho instead of funny, and the other is downright adorable, but he keeps his sorrow hidden away. And don't forget, these guys are still kids.. They think like kids.**

 **DISCLAIMER:- YES! I have managed to steal the rights to PJO! Hey, wait a minute, these are Rick's tax forms! Dam it! Noooooo...**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 6**

 **Nice to meet you-Let's fight!**

Maria and Susan stood at opposite ends of the training room. Maria was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, while Susan was still in her rags.

"Hey, you ready?" Maria yelled. She had no choice but to yell, given the room's vastness.

"You'd better wish that you are!" Susan yelled back. Maria grinned, before walking forwards, and Susan mirrored her actions. The two girls ended up five feet from each other in the middle of the ring, with Leo watching from the end of the room.

"Okay, Ready!" Leo yelled. Maria took a stance with her right leg forward and her fists raised in front of her, lighting them on fire. Susan spread her arms to the sides, and ice began to coat her fingers. She snarled, revealing that her teeth had frosted over as well.

"Fire versus ice, eh?" Maria said, smirking, and her flames intensified.

"START!" Leo yelled. Susan leapt forwards, swinging her claws at Maria, who took a step back to avoid the strike, and retaliated with a punch of her own. Susan's back nearly snapped in her efforts to bend backwards. The blow missed her by mere inches, but Susan had sacrificed her stability and stance in order to avoid the hit, and Maria took advantage. Her right hand, which was extended for the punch, bent at the elbow and was driven into Susan's stomach. Susan was thrown to the ground.

Maria stepped back, waiting for Susan to get up. "Come on, don't let this be over yet!" she said. Susan pushed herself off the ground, one arm cradling her stomach.

"You're strong." Susan wheezed "But you made a mistake by not finishing it when you had the chance. You're not going to get another chance." She slowly let out a deep breath, and the temperature began to fall, and frost began to grow over her skin.

"Wow, you're _cool._ Say, how did you get that crazy haircut?" Maria asked, her own long, curly black hair lighting up with flames.

"Cop grabbed my hair while I was escaping, and I missed."

Maria frowned in confusion "Missed? I'm pretty sure that you did cut your hair."

"I was aiming for his arm."

Maria whistled "Wow, that is _cold._ "

"I see that your sense of humor is from your dad's side."

"It is!" Maria said, smirking. "Bring it on, snow queen!"

The older girl leapt at Maria yet again, fingers aimed at Maria's chest. Maria threw another punch, but Susan didn't even bother dodging. She took the blow directly to her face.

"Ow!" Maria exclaimed. Her hand was bleeding, cut by Susan's now extremely sharp teeth. She stared at the wound, but her opponent didn't waste a single moment. Susan's fist struck the underside of Maria's chin with full force. Maria's head snapped back. Susan took a quick step forward and slammed her knee into Maria's stomach. Susan continued her assault, not giving Maria a single chance to regain her bearings. With that elbow to the stomach, Susan had realized that Maria was far stronger than herself. She wasn't going to beat her in a long fight. The only way was to overwhelm her early-on.

But Susan could never have expected Maria's sheer power. With a yell, a blast of energy was released in every direction, and Susan was thrown back. Maria was completely on fire, and the air shimmered around her. _"Shit."_ Susan thought. Maria blasted off the ground towards Susan, her fist drawn back, readying a blow powerful enough to knock her head off her shoulders.

Just a moment before Maria's fist blew Susan's brains out, a ten-pound hammer flew into the side of her head, and she was knocked off course. Maria crashed into the ground, unconscious, her power dissipating rapidly. Susan turned to face Leo, whose arm was outstretched.

"What was that for?! I was about to win!" Susan yelled. Her fist had been completely coated with thick ice, and a hit from that would have knocked any ordinary person unconscious.

"That hit would have killed you." Leo said, extracting a few corn kernels from his tool belt. "Even by demigod standards, Maria is abnormally powerful. Even as a baby, she was more powerful than the strongest demigod who ever lived when he was fifteen. That's because her mother, Calypso, is a titan, a being even older and stronger than the gods." He picked up his hammer and returned it to his tool belt. He turned Maria on her back and began feeding her the kernels one by one. The numerous cuts left on her face by Susan closed themselves instantly, and the bleeding on the side of her head stopped. Her eyes flickered open and she groaned.

"What happened? And why does my head hurt?"

"You went overboard, and I had to stop you."

"Oh, fine, _Padre,_ but who won?"

"This match is a draw."

"Oh great. Hey, snow queen, how about a rematch?" Maria said, sitting up.

"That's enough fighting for today, _hija_." Leo intervened "Time to do your homework, then training."

"Aw man, I hate training!" Maria whined.

Leo's expression became stern, which was an extremely rare occurrence. "Training isn't optional, Maria." Maria's expression became one of anger for a moment, before she turned around and walked away wordlessly.

"She doesn't like training, does she?" Susan asked.

"No, she doesn't."

"Say, Uncle Leo, you offered me a chance to take down the bastard that ruined my life. So tell me, why do you want to take him down?"

Leo sighed. Might as well. "He killed my son. My month old son, who had done nothing wrong. All because of a stupid prophecy." Leo said, clenching his fists which burst into flames. Leo frowned, and dispelled the flames, but the heat remained.

"Okay….. What prophecy?"

"It says that my child with Calypso is destined to overthrow him. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was the god of paranoia."

"So, Maria is supposed to defeat the king of the gods?!" Susan asked, utterly flabbergasted "Then why the hell doesn't she _want_ to train?" Leo avoided eye contact, looking up at the ceiling thirty feet above him. All of a sudden, it clicked in Susan's head.

"She doesn't know, does she?"

"I will not ruin her childhood." Leo said determinedly. "The truth will crush her the way she is now. She'll panic, and live the rest of her life in fear, and will never be able to defeat him."

"Okaaayyy, so you're having her train to beat a god, without telling her that she has to beat a god."

"You mustn't either." Leo said, his glare sharp enough to cut metal. "Promise me that you won't tell her."

"Okay, Uncle Leo. I promise. Runaways' oath. But just because you set the runaway record."

Leo cracked a smile. "Well then, that wraps this up." he said, standing up. "You're sleep deprived, you need rest."

Susan yawned "Eh, I've gone longer without sleep. This is only day two." She wobbled over to the elevator which took them from level -5 to level 4. In a matter of seconds. She stumbled over to the couch and fell asleep next to Rick, and was fast asleep in moments.

Leo glanced over at the two new demigods. At least he was doing _something_ right.

Rick and Susan slept for the entire day. And the entire night. And half of the next day as well. It was just past noon when they woke up. Susan's eyes flickered open, and then widened. She looked around and saw Rick sleeping next to her.

"Shit! Rick, wake up! We got caught! Come on, move it!" Susan whisper-yelled.

"Oy, it wasn't a dream, kid." said the voice of Leo Valdez, who was sitting in a couch next to theirs, which Susan had completely missed. He pulled out a box from his pocket. "Breath mints?"

Susan sighed in relief and collapsed back into the couch. "Finally! An adult who realizes that breath mints are an equivalent for brushing teeth.!" Leo offered her the box. She grabbed it and immediately popped half a dozen mints into her mouth. She glanced at Rick again, only to find him still asleep. An annoyed expression came over her face.

"Hey, Rick! Wake up already! You've been out for nearly an entire day!" Susan yelled, but there was no response. Susan's annoyed expression morphed into a sadistic grin "So we're doing this the hard way, then?" She opened her palms and held them six inches apart. Winds from the room gathered into her palm, forming a ball of cold, compressed air. She dropped it into Rick's mouth, and immediately sealed his mouth and nose. A second later, the air decompressed, and Rick's eyes flew open in alarm. Susan let go of his mouth, and a gust of air came out. She let go of his nose as well.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!" Susan said "You've been asleep for ages!"

Rick looked around, taking in his surroundings.

"So it wasn't a dream?" Susan shook her head. "Oh thank goodness."

"Try not to yell when you hear this, but your mom is a god and my half-sister." Susan said.

Rick was nonplussed. "Okay, that explains the powers and why we look similar. So if my mom is your half-sister, does that make you my aunt?"

Susan's jaw dropped "Why the hell are you taking this so well?!" she yelled.

"It's just cold, hard logic."

"The phrase is 'cold, hard _truth_ ', doofus. More importantly, how the hell are you buying this?!"

"Well, first off, you said it. And then there's the powers. What better way to explain it?"

"I dunno, X-Men, perhaps? But gods? Seriously?"

"Well, you certainly seem to have bought it."

"It took a miniature snowstorm over my head, a snowflake over yours, and three snowballs to his face to even try and accept the possibility of ancient Greek gods existing in the modern world!"

"That sounds interesting and all, but isn't it funny that you're my aunt?"

"That's the part you focus on?!" Susan exclaimed in disbelief. Actually, never mind. This was Rick, after all. Trying hold a serious conversation with him in a non-serious situation was impossible.

Leo was watching, confused. He really had no idea how Khione could have such a nice and carefree kid, even though Susan said he had a dark side, while Boreas had a daughter who was so insane that she wouldn't hesitate to punch a god in the face.

Actually, now that he thought about it, all three of Boreas' godly kids had a couple of loose screws. So it was probably a good thing that the god of winter winds didn't have demigod kids more than once or twice per century.

But Leo also realized the importance of that insanity. It allowed a being to temporarily ignore their limits. A short period of time during which insanity allowed one to perform feats greater than the capability of the body, and he knew that better than almost everyone. He was pretty insane himself, it was just that he had learned to control it over the years.

"All right, now that you two are up, let's get down to business." Leo said, interrupting the bickering of the two demigods. "First off, you two need to go clothes shopping. Until then, some of Maria and Susan's clothes ought to do. So you're going to be having a bath first. Any questions?"

Rick raised his hand. "Yes?"

"Maria, Susan, Calypso. Who are they?"

"Well, you've met Calypso. The tall, scary lady who was with me. Maria is my daughter, and Susan is a daughter of Apollo, my adoptive daughter."

"Wait, back up a sec. So you have an actual blood daughter. Who's the mom?"

"That would be Calypso."

"No way! Why would a knockout like her bother with a guy like you?!"

"So you can believe in gods in one sentence, but you can't believe that a supermodel equivalent married a scrawny guy who can set stuff on fire?!" Susan interjected.

"Hey! I take offense to that! And kid, I kicked your mom's butt once, and she's a goddess. I think that's enough to make any girl fall for me!"

Rick opened a note that fell into his lap out of thin air. "Apparently, someone also blew you halfway around the world with a single finger, signed, Khione."

"That's your mother, damn her." Leo muttered darkly. "Khione, Greek goddess of ice and snow, and a downright pain in the butt."

"I wonder if she actually did this on purpose." Rick mused. "Seriously, what are the chances that the child of the goddess of snow is named Rick _Frost_?"

Leo rubbed his chin. "Now that you mention it, you might be on to something. I once knew a daughter of the goddess of grain whose last name was _Gardner_. And two sons of the god of thieves whose last name was _Stoll_. I seriously do think that they do this just to mess around with their future kids."

Rick's expression darkened, and Leo saw a glimpse of the cold-minded Rick that Susan had mentioned. "So they just go for innocent people just because they have convenient last names?" His voice was as cold as his mother's when she was serious.

"Sometimes, yes. Sometimes, gods can be assholes like that. Sometimes, they can be such assholes that they will just do it with any random person just to vent off stress. But don't worry. Khione actually did have feelings for your dad. What happened to him actually horrified her. And this is the woman who decided to knock me into the stratosphere." Leo said, and Rick's glare lost most of its intensity.

Leo stood up and clapped his hands. "Well, if that's all, time for your baths! Right this way."

* * *

Susan closed the door behind her, letting the steaming water flow into the tub which could have been mistaken for a small kiddy pool. Just because her dad was a winter god didn't mean that she only liked cold baths. She sat on the edge of the tub, letting the steam curl around her. She raised a finger, and the steam around it immediately misted and turned to frost. Abruptly, the entire steam cloud froze, literally. It collapsed, revealing a man dressed in a black tux with a light blue shirt inside. He was quite good-looking, and there was an aura around him that screamed _'Danger!'_

"Okay, who the hell are you?" Susan said, preparing her ice claws, ready to attack or run, whichever was necessary.

"There will be no need for those." The man said, and the ice claws vanished. Susan's was now even more on guard than ever before. "I am not here to fight you."

"Oh yeah? Then if you had to talk to me instead of Leo, you should have no problem telling me who you are." Susan spat.

"I am Boreas. Greek god of the winter winds, your father." An instant later, Susan's fist made contact with the side of his cheek, and in the other side of the building, Leo felt as he had made a monumentally accurate prediction. The punch was accompanied by a burst of wind, and the force behind it caused the god to stumble back a few steps. Susan landed awkwardly, thrown back by the force of her own hit as she tried to stop her backwards momentum, but the back of her thighs hit the edge of the tub, and she fell backwards into the now-icy water. She sat up as quickly as she could and coughed.

"That was surprisingly- _cough cough-_ relieving." Susan said between coughs.

"I deserved that." Boreas said, rubbing his cheek, which had turned gold. **(A/N:-Normal cheeks turn red because of blood, which is red. Godly blood, ichor, is gold.)** He could have easily healed the damage faster than a flea could flap its wings. But he chose not to, because he truly felt that he deserved it, and far more. "Listen, Susan,, I am truly…"

"Save it, old man. I don't want to hear any excuses. The only thing I want to know is if you tried." Susan said. There was no need to mention what he had tried. It was obvious to both what Susan was asking.

"Yes. But…" Boreas said, but was cut off by his daughter.

"I said I don't want to hear any excuses. I'm gonna help uncle Leo take down that bastard king of yours, and that's it. For my mom."

Boreas bowed. "As you wish. I hope that one day, once I've made up for my mistakes, I may be able to call myself your father."

Susan nodded. "Yeah. Until then, you can reheat my bath water." she said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder at the now frozen water, with even the tap having frosted over.

Boreas pricked his finger on a miniature icicle he formed in his other one, similar to the claws that Susan used. A single drop of ichor formed on his finger, before he flicked it off. It flew through the air, and landed on the frozen water. In a burst of light which temporarily blinded Susan. When she regained her sight, the water was steaming once more, and there was no sign of the wind god.

Susan turned her back to the door and stripped off all her clothes. She stepped into the water, and for the first time in a long time, allowed herself to truly relax.

* * *

"That's quite the troublesome daughter you've got there, Boreas." Calypso said to the winter god, who had just stepped out of the bathroom. "And why is your cheek gold?"

"Susan punched me in the face. I'm afraid she's been through a lot. I can only blame myself for not interfering, but I also know it was necessary for this plan to work. Openly defying him would have only led to being kept under close supervision."

"I'm glad you understand. You should also understand that I want information on both of them should they ever go out of control." Calypso said, her perpetual frown unwavering.

Boreas sighed. He knew it would come to this, no matter how much he wanted it not to. "Their parents. Their mortal parents, that is. I trust Leo has already told you what happened to Susan's mother?" Calypso nodded grimly. "Well, Rick's father was captured by mortals in an attempt to get their hands on a god, after Khione got careless. And now, with the rise of nuclear technology, mortals are actually capable of holding their own against gods. Suffice to say, Khione did not fall for the trap. She chose to help her son escape from that special forces division, but his father was impossible to save without getting caught. So he's still there in his cell, in a trap specifically designed to capture winter-based gods. How they managed to get their hands on _that_ ice…. It makes me shudder at the fact that they possess magic left behind by _that_ family. But it does not concern us anymore. The only thing you need to know is that they are both extremely attached to their mortal parents. It is guaranteed to work on them. I just hope there will be no need for that."

Calypso's frown remained unchanged, even as Boreas went completely silent. For a full minute, neither moved, until Calypso's eyes widened slightly. She swept her hand through the air, and Boreas' body disintegrated into nothing.

"Damn, he left and I didn't even notice. I need to train more." Calypso said distastefully. She focused her mind, and teleported to the lowest location in the building, at level negative twenty. The level which harbored the top of a nuclear reactor. She opened the reaction chamber, which was inactive, and mentally started the reactor. There were no nuclear materials- she was using her own energy as fuel.

Heavy water cascaded from the sides of the chamber, but not one drop touched Calypso as she floated in midair in the middle of the chamber. Steam surrounded her, the gases within six inches of her turning to plasma.

It was difficult to maintain her true titanic aura for an extended periods of time. So far, she had only managed two minutes. But she knew that she'd have to handle a majority of the gods herself, so two minutes wasn't going to cut it. She needed to be able to maintain her full power for hours on end, while fighting at the same time. Calypso gritted her teeth as her body approached its limit, but kept pushing. She would never forgive what _he_ had done to her son. The memory of Samuel being vaporized replayed itself in her head, and with a yell that carried with it such agony that even gods would be felled, Calypso pushed past her limits.

* * *

The entire building rumbled under Maria and Sunny's feet. "You know, I still can't believe that Mom is that powerful." Susan said, driving her hand fingers-first into a box of heated sand.

"Me neither. I'd say _Madre_ is a walking nuclear bomb." Maria said, mimicking her adoptive sister's motion, thrusting her own fingers into the burning sand. Maria and Sunny were training in two separate boxes of sand, because Maria's box had to be heated to such a degree that the sand was practically liquid. She had a certain degree of resistance to heat, so extreme temperatures were needed for her training to be effective.

They were on level eleven, the training zone. An entire floor of the building dedicated to training alone. It consisted of highly unorthodox and rare training equipment, unlike the gym on levels nine and ten. Most of the training equipment was the stuff of Hollywood movies and anime- thousand pound tires, a rock climbing zone on the ceiling, beds of nails, and even a martial arts training zone involving several rotating dummies not unlike those seen in Kung-Fu Panda. And this was only a part of it. There was even that one special zone which would be the dream come true of many Dragonball fans- a gravity room.

Maria wasn't overly fond of this room, mostly because of all the training her parents put her through. She knew enough to know that the training she was currently doing was on par with that of some of the greatest martial artists of all time. And she was a six-year old girl.

It made no sense, and it was annoying. Training made her body hurt all over, and left her too tired to do anything she actually wanted to do. But she didn't dare to go against her parents. She had once seen a sparring session between her parents. Or more like not seen. They had been too fast for her to see properly. Calypso was giving off a glow so powerful that it hurt Maria's eyes, and Leo was shrouded in an inferno so hot that it turned all the metal near him into sludge. Each blow dealt by Calypso sent shockwaves throughout the building, and each swing of Leo's hammer sent an arc of white-hot flames that incinerated everything in their path. That had been two years ago, and Maria knew that she didn't want to get on their bad sides.

"Honestly, don't you ever get bored of this?" Maria asked, wincing as her fingers hit the sand incorrectly.

"Not really." Susan mused "When you think about it, there's a really small amount of people on earth who can do what we can. It feels nice, knowing that you are among a special few. I mean, how many people get to train by punching burning sand? I don't think anyone has since Bruce Lee! It's amazing, having this opportunity!"

"So that's what you want, then? To become the next Bruce Lee?" Maria said skeptically, getting distracted and injuring the fingers of her other hand as well. She frowned, a golden light surrounding her hands for an instant, healing the sprained muscles instantly.

Sunny scratched her head, forgetting about her training. "Hmmmm, not really. I want to do music. With those giant guitars and speakers that blow your socks off!" she said, resuming plunging her fingers into the sand.

Maria looked down at her sandbox and scowled. She liked fighting, but training? Nah.

Not on this level, at least.

She could appreciate the need for, and even enjoy basic exercises. A little running, some swimming, a few dozen push-ups, pull-ups and crunches, but the training she was being put through was ridiculous! Who did her parents expect her to fight? As she was now, even a highly trained assassin would have trouble dealing with her. Poisons barely made her cough, bullets only gave her shallow cuts, and any injuries on her healed in moments.

Not to mention that she could lift seven hundred pounds, punch through walls, knew the basics of martial arts and literally set herself on fire. Seriously, who was she supposed to fear aside from her parents herself? If her parents did feel like someone could threaten her, that person would have to be either a god or an anime character! And neither would have any reason to pick on her!

Sure, she wanted to fight and get stronger, but she wanted a life too! She wanted to play with the other kids, go to parties, live in a house of her own, get a job, and do everything that normal people did! But as things were now, she had literally no social life outside of Sunny. The few kids she had met in school couldn't really be counted as friends just yet.

Maria gritted her teeth in anger and thrust her hand into the sand. She didn't see it, but sparks flew from her palm which was submerged in the sand, turning it to glass.

* * *

 **A/N:- Well, here's another chapter. I'm gonna start increasing chapter lengths. The only reason why the previous chapters were so short was because the content of each chapter was too much for a single paragraph, and the time difference between each chapter so far was too great.**

 **But I'm gonna be changing that. Each chapter is going to be pushing 5,000 words.**

 **Also, updates will be every two weeks if not sooner. Just don't expect anything around mid-July, it's gonna be a busy time for me.**

 **Please do review. Had it not been for reviews, my writing style would have totally sucked. It's not that hard to review, you know. I mean, this story has over 900 views, and 8 reviews. That's like, less than 1%. I mean, come on! Just type something!**

 **Next time:- Not School!**

 **-Phoenix.**

 **P.S.:- Tell me if you guys want to see more of how the other seven are doing simultaneously. The way my story goes, they will be having absolutely zero influence on the story until Maria is fifteen, and that's gonnabe a long wait for anyone who wants to see Percy again. I can put in bits of their lives like I did a few chapters ago, or even some cameos if the demand is high enough. But no matter what, they aren't getting any active roles anytime soon.**


	8. The Place of Nightmares

**I know this is really late. Super sorry about that. The epilogue to my RWBY short has been taking up waaay too much of my time.**

 **Progress is going to be long and slow, so there will be several months' worth of time skips coming up soon. The human body can only take so much, after all. Thanks to those who reviewed, all questions which don't involve spoilers will be answered up here.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 7**

 **THE PLACE OF NIGHTMARES**

"You're kidding, right?" Susan asked, too horrified to think. This was so not happening. She had been there once. Never again.

"Nope! It's really important, actually. Helps in a lot of ways, and it's quite necessary for your personality development." Leo replied.

"I don't want to develop my personality!" Susan protested.

"Either way, school is supposed to be fun! Try and enjoy yourself!"

"Hell no! Did you have fun at school?"

"I was tortured at most of my foster homes, so school was definitely the high point of the day back then."

"I kinda-sorta want to ensure my survival while fighting gods, so I'm gonna busy myself with training."

"And you can use school as a rest break from training. Even though you're a demigod, you still have limits. Besides, bullies use some pretty interesting techniques, if I do say so myself. There's a lot to learn, even from mortal assholes."

Susan tugged at her still uneven hair. She hated school! All that pointless blabber about numbers and everything. And of course, the teachers who didn't know the meaning of dyslexia.

"Trust me kid, you want to go. Living a normal life can be surprisingly relaxing on the mind."

"Yeah, not happening when I know I'll be fighting gods before I can get my driver's license."

"Oh come on. Just loosen up! For just one day, at least! And if you ever get bored, at least Rick will be there. I hacked into the school database and put you in the same class. It was hard getting admission for you guys after most schools have already started, but I managed it."

"I've dropped Maria and Sunny off. Time to go." Calypso said, appearing out of thin air. "Where's Rick?"

"Here." Rick said hesitantly. He was carrying an ordinary backpack, and was wearing a simple T-shirt and shorts, much like Susan. "I'm not sure I want to do this." he muttered. He wasn't a people person, whether he was in serious mode or not.

"Oh hush, you'll be fine. School is rather enjoyable."

"Oh yeah?" Susan retorted "How would you know? You've never been to school!"

Calypso raised an eyebrow. "I helped _invent_ school. Now come on, let's get moving."

"Oh. Okay." Susan said, before reviewing Calypso's sentence. "Wait a minute, say that again."

"I helped invent school." Calypso said nonchalantly, unaware of the horrors she had brought upon children for millennia. Even Leo had not known this.

" _Mamacita_ , you _what?!_ "

"Huh? What's wrong?" Calypso asked, truly unaware of her crimes against childhood.

"Ugh, sunshine, when we get back, we're going to have a long talk." Leo said with a dark expression on his face. "But now, let's just drop them off for their first day of second grade."

Calypso nodded, and a rift in space opened up in midair. Susan and Rick entered, still aghast by Calypso's statement. Leo made a mental note to teach his wife a thing or two about what school meant.

The four stepped out of the void, and into daylight, in Bullhead city.

"Hold up, I know this place. I've spent a night here." Rick said, scrutinizing the alleyway they'd appeared in."This is Bullhead city! How in the- oh, right. Magic."

"Yep. But you can't just go around giving everyone details about gods and stuff. The more people know, the easier it will be for gods to find you, and that means more monsters trying to kill you." Calypso warned, as they stepped out of the narrow alley.

The school was only three blocks away, and the walk was quick and silent. Leo was silent, thinking up new plans for Festus now that he'd restored his hard drive. Calypso was silent, because she was pouring all her attention into staying on guard, at which point she could hear the footsteps of ants half a mile away. Susan was silent due to receiving knowledge that she was living with the witch who had invented schools. Rick was silent because he was Rick.

"Okay, now I want you both to be on your best behavior. Pay attention in class, don't make fun of your teachers, don't be annoying, and please don't fight!" Leo said once they reached the school gates.

"Sure thing, Uncle Leo." Susan said sarcastically.

"You could at least try to sound convincing." Leo admonished.

"He's right. That was too obvious. You stink at lying." Rick interjected.

"Thanks for that, partner."

"See? It's obvious."

"It was intended to be obvious."

"This is the point where you stop arguing." Calypso said firmly "You're in school now. This is not a place to fight." Leo facepalmed and Rick shook his head.

"Okay, how many centuries ago was it that you visited a school?" Susan asked.

"I'd say something about forty. Why?" Leo reached up and placed his hand on Calypso's shoulder.

"I'll explain later, sunshine. Kids, I'll be here to pick you up at four."

"See ya later then, Uncle Leo." Susan said, while Rick just waved. And then, just like that, they were gone.

Leo grabbed Calypso and dragged her away by the arm.

"Whoa, Leo! What's the matter?" Leo gritted his teeth.

"Sunshine, you and I are going to have a _looooong_ talk about school."

* * *

Susan and Rick walked into the classroom they had been directed to. Susan had asked a teacher where their class was supposed to be. School had started a week earlier, but they were a special case.

The welcome they received as soon as they stepped over the threshold of the room wasn't exactly welcome.

"So you two must be the new kids." This came from who Rick observed was the largest boy in the room. Had he known the word, he would have described the boy as a _stereotypical_ bully.

"Yep." Susan said nonchalantly, standing in between Rick and the boy, having to tilt her head slightly upwards to look at him. She wasn't exactly tall.

"I wasn't talking to you, girl." He snapped.

"Well, you did say 'you two', so you were talking to both of us." Rick pointed out, before glancing at Susan. "By the way, what's your name?"

"John. Why?"

"Now I know what to put on your gravestone when Susan here kills you." Rick said simply. "No one says that to her and gets away with it."

"Heh. I'd like to see her try." John said, looking down at Susan. Rick prepared himself to stop Susan before she went too far.

"So, I have your permission, then?" Susan asked sweetly. An air of danger surrounded her, and everyone except Rick took a step away from her. "You actually asked for this. Don't come crying to me later."

If he had known the word, Rick would have called the situation a _cliché._

* * *

Calypso was hunched over in a chair, drinking her third gallon of beer. The lecture she had received at the hands of Leo had drained her more than any training session could have.

"I…..I don't believe it." Calypso said for what was probably the hundredth time. "How…Who did this?!"

"Teachers, politicians, bad parents, people with money, et cetera et cetera. Do you want me to go on?" Calypso shook her head.

"I never imagined… I helped make school a place of learning, where people could discover their purpose in life, not…this!"

"Well, it has. Deal with it."

"Oh I swear, when we beat him, I'll remove every school from the face of earth!"

"Uh, sunshine? That's a little too drastic." Leo's phone began to ring. He looked at the screen. "Hold that thought. It's Bullhead elementary." He took the call and put his phone to his ear. "Hello, Leo Valdez speaking…. Oh, hello principal Adams…. They did what?!"

* * *

"The good news is that Mr. Smith's nose isn't broken, and his limp is only temporary. So far, they haven't pressed any charges either." Edgar Adams, the principal of Bullhead elementary said. Susan and Rick were sitting in chairs next to the wall, while Leo and Calypso sat directly across the table from the principal.

Susan looked completely normal, save for her shirt which was now quite wrinkled. Rick, on the other hand, had a swollen eye and a few bruises on his arms. But he seemed far more relaxed than Susan.

"Tell me again, what happened?" Calypso asked.

"That John guy made Susan mad by refusing to notice her because she was a girl. Then she tried to beat him up, and I had to stop her. And all this was accidental." Rick said, gesturing at himself. In three sentences, he finished a an argument which would have normally lasted for half an hour.

"I thought we told you not to fight." Calypso groaned "Seriously, you got sent to the principal's office before your first class even began. That's probably a record."

"Not true" Leo piped up "I once got sent to the principal's office before I even stepped foot into school grounds." Principal Adams' jaw dropped, and Calypso shot Leo a death glare. Leo gulped "I'll just stay quiet."

Calypso's eyes flashed, and a dazed look came over principal Adams' face.

"I am so not in the mood to listen to another lecture today." she said. "Susan, Rick, you two have detention after school. I'm outta here." She grabbed Leo's hand and just disappeared, leaving behind no trace that she had been there in the first place.

"I suppose that settles it. You two have detention after school." The principal said, still in a daze. "Go to your classes."

"What just happened?" Susan muttered as she walked out of the principal's office.

"Don't ask me." was Rick's deadpan response.

"Seriously, Valdez. How do you get in trouble before you even enter school grounds?" Calypso berated.

"Well, I…."

"Don't answer that."

"Hey, you asked."

Calypso groaned internally and clutched her head. Honestly, what had she been thinking, marrying this annoying, yet lovable idiot. Actually, that was exactly why she had married him. What in the world had been wrong with her?

"Time to train." Calypso declared. Her thoughts were far too chaotic at the moment, so it was best to forget it all for a while. She instantly transported herself and Leo to the underground sparring chamber.

"Hey, what's the sudden urgency?"

"I just….. want to clear my head. Ready? Go!" Calypso said, before reappearing at the other end of the room. Leo barely had enough time to draw two hammers from his tool belt to block Calypso's deadly fists, and the hammers shattered. Leo had to duck to avoid the attack, which would have surely killed him, but that was the point: If Leo was so weak that he would fall here, then there was no point in him being there for the final fight.

Leo charged forth, slamming his knee into Calypso's stomach, but it felt as though he hit a wall made of solid steel. Which probably wasn't that inaccurate. He ignited his palms and leapt into the air, blasting Calypso at point -blank range when she turned around. He drew two more hammers, and took a defensive stance. Calypso charged with such force that the specially toughened floor shattered under her feet.

Calypso was going all-out, and the only thing preventing Leo from dying on the spot was the fact that Calypso had not yet regained all her power. Sure, there was the occasional glimmer of titanic energy, but it was nothing compared to the real deal. But still, Leo was no match for her sheer power. Flames surrounded him, and he met Calypso head on. Unlike the first two hammers, which were made of steel, the ones he was using were made of pure celestial bronze. Calypso's fist was crushed the moment it came into contact with the hammer. But she either didn't notice the pain, or just chose to ignore it.

Her knee came up into Leo's stomach. He could feel his organs malfunctioning, but he knew better than anyone, even a moment's opening spelled defeat. He swung both his hammers into the sides of Calypso's head, effectively crushing her skull a moment before he was sent flying.

A smashed skull wouldn't kill Calypso. Sure, her healing powers were a far cry from what they had been in her heyday, but repairing her own skull was not too hard.

Leo crashed into the wall and landed unsteadily in his feet. Calypso's head was glowing gold, returning to its original shape quickly. He had a second to down a piece of ambrosia, before they were clashing again. Leo was entirely on fire now, swinging the twenty-five pound hammers circularly in defense, before breaking both of Calypso's arms simultaneously. He jumped, an necessity to make up for the significant height difference, and brought both his hammers down on her head, at the same time energy exploded around the entirety of her body, launching Leo into the roof.

And thus, the spar ended with a broken spine and a dozen broken ribs, much like it always did.

The fight had been short, intense, and had needed an unbelievable amount of power.

But it was not enough. It was nowhere near enough. Not if they wanted to win.

Leo shakily extracted a flask of nectar from his tool belt and drank it, while Calypso focused on healing her own body.

Both of them had improved by leaps and bounds over the past six years. Now, only nine remained.

* * *

"I hope you learned your lesson in detention." Leo said jokingly to a scowling Susan.

"That was hell!" Susan yelled "You're not sending me back there."

"I won't. Calypso will." Leo said, earning a punch from Susan to his ribs, which had yet to completely heal.

"Oy, quit it. How was it really?"

"I suppose someone decided to change the name of the meditation room to detention hall to make it sound more intimidating. Personally, I'd rather spend all day in there."

"Wow. Never thought I'd hear that." Leo muttered, leading Susan and Rick towards the parking lot.

"Wait, you have a car?" Rick asked.

"Sure. I built it."

"Wait, you built a car?!" Susan asked incredulously.

"Of course I did! What do you think I do all day besides training and cooking?"

Anyone who knew Leo Valdez would have been able to immediately recognize which car was his. It didn't stick out like something from a sci-fi movie, but it did have a fiery paint job. Leo had used the frame of an old BMW to start with, and had reconstructed it all. On the outside, it looked completely normal, but the insides were a completely different story.

Leo had built the car considering the fact that he was a demigod, destined to be hunted by monsters. The car was packed with buzz saws, grappling hooks, and even a 20 millimeter minigun. Of course, it also had multiple other defensive systems such as an electric field generator and a short-range shockwave pulse system. Not to mention radar, sonar, live satellite connection, courtesy of an old friend of Leo's who now worked at Google. And most important of all, a little red button. Leo hadn't been able to resist the cliché of putting an extremely important button right out in the open where anyone could push it.

Sure, there were plenty of improvements left, but it would be enough for a small army of monsters.

Rick let out a low whistle. "Sweet ride, uncle Leo."

"Ohohoho! She's more than just sweet. Get in!" Leo said, sporting a look which immediately warned everyone to get away. Pity that Rick and Susan didn't notice it. As soon as Leo hit the highway 93, they wished they had.

Leo hit route 68 at seventy miles per hour, which wasn't too out of the ordinary. But within seconds, he'd passed a hundred, and was practically begging to be pulled over by the cops. Susan was cheering for Leo to go faster, while Rick tried to get her to settle down.

"You want fast?" Leo asked.

"Yeah!" Susan yelled. Rick sighed. Leo grinned and swung onto route 93, and pushed the accelerator as far down as it could go. The sudden acceleration put immense amounts of g-force on the car's occupants, forcing them into their chairs. The car leapt forward. One-fifty, two, two-fifty, three hundred miles per hour! And it was still speeding up!

"Too fast!" Susan screamed. Leo ignored her, and continued to speed up. He didn't have to worry about the police. No car in the world could keep up with his baby, save for the SSC Thrust, which the last time he checked could only reach top speed in Africa.

"I totally agree! This is too freaking fast!" Rick yelled, his calm and cool demeanor shattered.

"You haven't heard the best part yet!" Leo said, laughing maniacally.

"What's that?"

"This baby doesn't have any brakes!" Leo's proclamation was met with exactly two seconds of silence.

"WHAT?!" Susan and Rick screamed "What the hell do you mean there are no brakes?!"

"I mean that I didn't install any." Leo said as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "Relax, guys. I got this." Leo continued accelerating, hitting the normal top speed of five hundred and thirty-seven miles per hour.

"Rick, if I die, I want you to know that you've always been my best friend. Thank you so much for being there for me when I needed you!"

"If I die, I want you to know that I gave you that horrible haircut last year while you were asleep!" Rick said.

"YOU WHAT?!"

"I'm sorry! But we're gonna die anyway, so what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that I actually made an emotional and heartfelt speech, and you tell me that you practically shaved my head bald? Are you trying to make fun of me?!"

"No, I _am_ making fun of you."

"If we survive, I'll kill you myself!"

The argument was halted when Susan and Rick were thrown forward, saved only by their seatbelts, accompanied by the screeching of tires. Rick glared at Leo accusingly through the mirror.

"I thought you said this thing didn't have brakes."

"Oh, you believed that? Of course I installed brakes, how am I supposed to drift without them?" Leo said, laughing openly. It had been a while since he had been able to pull a prank like this, his previous victims being Maria and Sunny a few years ago, and Calypso a decade before that.

"Change of plans, Rick." Susan said darkly, which was impressive considering her squeaky seven year-old voice "Let's kill this guy first."

"Agreed."

Leo simply laughed as he slowed down to forty and drove to the resort. He drove into the parking lot, which was basically a three-storied building right next to the resort. For a split-second, a part of the ground opened downwards, allowing Leo to drive into the unknown depths of the ground. Then the secret entrance closed, leaving behind no trace of anything being out of place.

Lights flickered on in the underground tunnel, as Leo drove through. It was a large curve, and it eventually ended in the lab/ hangar/ engineering department hybrid on level -11. Leo stopped the car and turned it off. Susan and Rick got out shakily. Never had they dealt with such speed before. Susan turned to glare at Leo, but something above her caught her eye.

"Whoa…."

"Susan? What's….whoa….." Rick forgot how to speak at the sight of the massive construct hanging in midair, suspended by multiple cables.

"Uncle Leo, what is that?" Susan asked, never looking down, unblinkingly.

"Oh." Leo said, looking upwards "That's Festus, my automaton dragon. Well, what fraction of him I've reconstructed, anyway. He was almost completely destroyed, save for his central chip." He said, gesturing at a cube which sat on a table. It was about six inches by six inches by six inches, and it had multiple openings for connecting cables, and even a dozen USB ports.

Festus had also changed significantly from his old days. Now, he was just a bundle of wires with a basic skeletal frame. Another difference was that Leo was planning on making him bigger. Much bigger, and far more powerful.

Leo's gaze fell on the numerous portable blackboards, which were completely covered with failed calculations. His new design for Festus needed far more power than the old energy core could supply, so he had to redo everything from the beginning. The mathematics for the energy core were the hardest of all, and nothing was working.

Leo shook his head to clear those thoughts. Now wasn't the time. He called down the elevator while Susan and Rick were still staring. It descended within moments, and Leo dragged the two young demigods into it.

"How….How did you build all this stuff?" Rick asked in wonder. Susan was too tongue tied to speak.

"I'm a son of Hephaestus, god of fire and machines, so it comes naturally. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I can build stuff in my sleep."

The elevator continued to climb rapidly, all the way back up to level 4.

"Hey Cal, we're back." Leo announced.

"You wouldn't happen to know about a police alert regarding a car which was travelling eight times faster than the speed limit on route 93?" Calypso called out from another room.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Leo said plainly. His voice betrayed no emotion, and he didn't react one bit even when faced with the combined glares of Susan and Rick.

"Now, you two go and do your homework, and then we'll do some training in an hour and half." Leo said, pushing the two out of the elevator, and pressing the button for the control center on level -1.

"Darn it! He escaped before I could kick his butt!" Susan complained.

"Don't worry, we'll do that during training." Rick said, walking into his room and closing the door behind him, leaving Susan alone in the hallway. She grumbled to herself, entering her own room, not at all looking forward to doing her homework.

* * *

Training was in interesting break from homework, but it was also insanely tiring. Susan had fought several people, and had run entire marathons' worth of distances, but it didn't matter in the gravity chamber. Just activating 2 G's was enough to make her struggle, and 3G's were enough to bring her to her knees. She grunted in effort to merely lift her arms. At long last, she managed to stand, which needed and incredible amount of effort. The air was heavier, and the increased air pressure was getting to her.

"You good?" Leo asked.

On the other hand, everyone else apart from Rick was handling the extra gravity with minimal effort. In fact, Calypso and Leo looked as if they didn't even notice the change.

"I'm cool." Susan said through gritted teeth, summoning all her strength just to stand. It was like wearing weights, equal to twice her body weight, everywhere on her body. Rick, who lacked Susan's strength, was down on all fours as he struggled to breathe.

"Don't worry, you two, you'll get used to it in a month!" Sunny said cheerily.

"Yeah, it's hard at first, but it becomes really easy over time." Maria added, her curly hair straightened by gravity.

"You're telling me…. that I have to get used… to this … in a month?" Rick said between gasps.

"Well sure, if you ever want to catch up with us. We're currently on 7 Gs."

"Seven?! How the hell can you handle that?" Susan exclaimed in shock, trying not to collapse.

"They've been doing this for years, and this is only your first day." Calypso said. "Leo can handle fifteen, and I'm working at seventy."

Susan had to forcibly prevent her jaw from dropping, because if she didn't, it would be ripped off her face. She reminded herself that Calypso was a titan, so it was useless to compare her to human standards.

The training session in the gravity room lasted an entire hour, during which Susan and Rick had done nothing more than walk and move their arms around. Meanwhile, the others had been performing acrobatics and aerobics. Then Leo had sent them out before turning up the gravity to 7 Gs. They collapsed on the floor, panting and covered with sweat. Their normally abnormally pale skin was flushed red.

"Hey Rick, can you move?"

"Nothing apart from my mouth." He groaned. "It feels as if I've been running all night."

"Heh…. Now that you mention it, this does feel like that."

The two remained on their backs for a while, until Maria and Sunny exited the room half an hour later. Sunny was sweating heavily, while Maria only looked slightly out of breath. Calypso poked her head through the door.

"Sunny, you know what's next. Show them how to do it." Calypso said, before closing the door. The gravity wave generator under the gravity room hummed as the gravity was increased greatly.

"Wait, what did she mean by 'what's next'?" Susan asked with dread in her voice.

"Training isn't over yet." Maria grumbled, and Rick fainted. "The gravity room was just the warm-up. The real training begins now." Susan fainted. "Oi, you two! Wake up! If I'm doing it, you're gonna do it as well."

Sunny poured cold water onto Susan and Rick's faces, effectively bringing them back to the world of the conscious.

"You've had a half-hour break, you'll be fine once you start moving." Sunny said comfortably. Susan and Rick foolishly fell for it.

Susan's shin ached as she delivered another kick to the wooden dummy. The rotating arms swung around from the momentum of her kick, and she had to jump to avoid it. She stumbled and landed on her knees, and had to bring her arms up to block the rotating wooden rod. Her forearms throbbed from the repeating impacts, and she was beyond exhausted.

She looked around to see how the others were doing. Rick was doing significantly better than her, being able to accurately predict the motion of the rods and time his movements correctly. Sunny's movements were slow, but smooth, never stopping. Every rod coming towards her was stopped efficiently, and then its direction was reversed. Maria was another story entirely.

Until this moment, Susan hadn't truly understood how powerful Maria truly was. She was using two dummies, striking the wooden rods at impossible speeds, each strike precise and deadly. She was already on a level that was unheard of by human standards. It was physically impossible for a six-year old to do what she was doing.

 _CRACK!_

With a particularly powerful kick, one of Maria's dummies broke into splinters, and when Sunny turned to look, one of the rotating rods hit her in the back of her head, sending her stumbling.

Maria stopped the rotation of the other dummy with one hand, before surveying the destruction she had caused. The dummy had been broken into several major pieces, and a multitude of splinters.

"Tch." Maria said under her breath. She was already too strong for standard equipment. Why on earth did she still have to do this?

The door to the gravity room opened with a hiss, and Leo stepped out, his skin steaming. He was clearly tired, and he leaned against the door as he closed it.

"How's it going?"

"You need better dummies." Rick said, gesturing towards the broken one. Leo looked at it and whistled.

"Nice work, _hija_. I guess I'll have to replace them with metal ones now." He looked at the four kids in front of him, two of which looked dead on their feet. "That's enough for today. Take your baths, dinner will be ready in half an hour."

"Sure thing, dad!" Sunny said, giving Leo a quick hug before dragging Susan and Rick after her. Maria was right in her tail, and Leo was left alone in the training room, with only the continuous hum of the gravity wave generator for company. He gave the broken dummy one last glance, before deciding that he'd repair it the next day when the kids were at school.

Leo could feel himself growing stronger every day. Calypso too, was undeniably unlocking more and more of her power every minute. Leo glanced down at his trembling hands, and clenched his fist to stop it.

He was afraid.

Afraid if what might happen should _he_ find out about Maria's existence. He could still recall the events of seven years ago with frightening detail.

Leo didn't know why he hadn't accepted Hestia's offer of escaping the Greek pantheon when he had been offered the choice. There were several other gods he'd befriended, and finding a place in ordinary society would've been easy. Maybe he'd done it impulsively, seeking revenge. Maybe it was that small heroic part of him that wanted to stop _his_ reign of terror. Or maybe it was anger.

Whatever the reason, looking at his daughter, he had realized that he didn't want his daughter to fight. He didn't want to see his baby girl risk her life due to her parent's grudge and a prophecy.

Leo also felt immensely disgusted when he realized that he was doing exactly what the gods did- raise a child for their own selfish purposes.

"You're thinking too much." Calypso said, putting her arm on Leo's shoulder. She had exited the gravity room a minute ago, and he had been so lost in thought that he had failed to notice her presence, as well as the fact that the gravity wave generator had been shut down. "I don't exactly feel great either, but we have to do this. But right now, you're supposed to make dinner. Focus on that for now."

Leo shook his head vigorously. Calypso was right, of course. Overthinking things wasn't going to work. He needed to relax.

Besides, he had tacos to make.

* * *

 **A/N:- Well, here you go. The gravity room is by far the best way to train, but it is going to take a long time to increase gravity. Maria is part-titan, and thus has superhuman adaptability. Her body is far superior to that of a demigod, so she has the advantage there.**

 **Do leave reviews, constructive criticism is more than welcome. Half the reason as to why I do this is to improve my skills as an author.**

 **Next time:- Breakout- Twenty years after escaping.**

 **-Phoenix.**


	9. Breakout- Twenty years after Escaping

**A/N:- I know this is long overdue, but for this story, my brother is the one who has better ideas. And he still hasn't finished downloading Ms Office. So the latter half of this chapter had to be relayed by phone call.**

 **Honestly, this chapter is really pushing the limits of the T-rating. I swear, one more word and this story would have to be moved to the M-rated section. You have been warned.**

 **Disclaimer:- Nope, still haven't managed to get the rights to Leo. Only Maria is ours.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 8**

 **DEMON OF THE PAST**

 **BREAKOUT-TWENTY YEARS AFTER ESCAPING**

Leo had known. Of course he had. He had known for decades that there was no escape but death. As long as she lived, she would always haunt him in real life as well as in his nightmares. So, when things got monotonous, obviously, it was Leo who the fates had decided to screw over once more. To top it off, an irresistible bait had been laid out for him, so there was no ignoring this problem either.

In ancient times, there was a law that stated that killing a goat was forbidden. First, you needed the animal's approval before you could kill it. The creature had to deliberately move towards a guillotine to signify it's willingness to die. Of course, there was a very delicious bait kept right before the guillotine.

Right now, Leo was feeling like an ancient goat. The task ahead of him demanded that he come face-to -face with one of his oldest nightmares, and he actually understood why. Unless he got over his childhood fears, his mental obstacles would always hold him back, although Leo was still unwilling to go through with it.

The bait was a son of Athena, whose father had been killed due to his position as chief scientific advisor to the president of America. He had been thrown into the foster system, and had been immediately adopted by a person Leo knew all to well. How she had avoided arrest for so long baffled him.

She was the woman who had adopted him when he was ten, and she, twenty-five. He hadn't been her first foster child either. It had been his worst foster home ever, and nothing else even came close.

Of course he knew Teresa Wilkins. Her face and name had been permanently burned into his memory, along with a full year's worth of torture. However, she had taught him a very important life lesson:- the words of an adult outweighed the words of a child by a comically vast amount. Unless there was solid evidence, adults would always have more power than kids. Not to mention that Teresa had been gifted with a perfect body, so when, if, words failed, a few hours in her bedroom, or anywhere else, really, always convinced the child services guys to ignore the kids they were supposed to be looking after.

The guy in charge of Leo had actually stuck around for a few months, and had joined Teresa in giving Leo hell, just so that he could do it with Teresa almost constantly, and everywhere, literally _everywhere_ in the house to boot, which consequently led to Leo never needing sex-ed lessons ever. And when his in-charge had gotten a tad too drunk once, Teresa had forced him onto Leo, which had almost completely broken him.

Of course, Leo had tracked him down and mini-nuked his house. Revenge was very sweet indeed, and highly explosive, apparently. He had gone after his ex-in-charge, not Teresa, because he had been much more pissed at him. It had been his job to ensure that Leo was being raised in a proper environment. Instead, he had intentionally made it worse. He had actually covered for Teresa, and had given her plenty of new torture methods too.

Had he not run away, Leo would have probably been stuck there for several more years, or until he died, whichever came first.

Now, he had to go back to face the demon he ran away from two whole decades ago. Mere reluctance wasn't enough to describe what he was feeling. Anyone who knew Leo would know how utterly terrified he was just by looking at the speedometer of his car. He was going so slow that people were blowing their horns at him in the slow lane. The slow lane! It wasn't surprising though, seeing as how he was going at a pathetic twenty miles per hour.

"Creeeeeeaaak!" came Festus' voice over the radio. He really did not like going so slow.

"I know, Festus" Leo groaned "I want to go fast too, but whenever I think of what I'm about to do, I…. I just lose it. I know that I'm at least five times stronger than she can ever hope to be, but that old fear just keeps coming back." He raised his hand, only to see it shaking like a dead leaf in a hurricane.

"I'm a mess."

* * *

Calypso looked at Leo through the eye of her mind. She really didn't want Leo to do this alone. She was standing in the gravity room, and had left the kids to spar underground. It had been three months since Susan and Rick had shown up, and the four were getting along pretty well. Leo had left nearly an hour ago, right after he had used the gravity room to calm his nerves. Calypso sighed and turned up the gravity to eighty Gs. The gravity almost tore her clothes off, but Calypso ignored it and began doing pull-ups. Leo was doing his job, and it was about time she got back to doing hers.

Festus had finally convinced Leo to punch it, after reminding him that there was another kid who had been in her clutches for over a month now. Leo pressed the accelerator all the way down, and the car leapt forward, rapidly reducing the 1,000 mile distance between Leo and his destination.

* * *

In the sparring chamber several feet below the ground, Sunny, Susan, and Rick were trading blows. Maria had gone for a bathroom break. Susan and Rick had the advantage while attacking due to the fact that their powers allowing them to form weapons out of thin air. Sunny lacked such an ability, but she had been training for far longer than the other two, and was used to twice the amount of gravity that they could handle.

Sunny ducked under a wild swing from Rick's sword. It was made out of ice, and was hollow in order to prevent any accidental decapitations. The most it would do was give a nasty bruise and a few cuts, nothing that a little ambrosia and nectar couldn't fix. Sunny promptly swept Rick's legs out from under him, and simultaneously blocked a slash from Susan's ice claws, sustaining only a few minor cuts. Sunny elbowed Susan in the gut, and avoided Rick's sword, allowing it to crash into the side of Susan's head instead. Another advantage that Rick and Susan had while fighting was that their powers were of a highly similar origin, and were only slightly affected by each other's powers, allowing them to attack freely without worrying about getting injured by friendly fire. Susan only felt a sharp sting for an instant as Rick's sword shattered.

Susan's fist immediately buried itself in Sunny's gut, sending the smaller girl flying. Susan and Rick charged without hesitation, and just like that, the fight was over.

Light exploded from Sunny's body like an overpowered flash grenade, blinding her opponents, allowing her to take them both down in one hit each.

"Damn it!" Susan groaned "Why do I always fall for that trick?"

"Hey, you guys can make ice swords while I'm stuck with being a walking flash grenade." Sunny retorted. She saw Rick frowning , and asked "What's wrong, Rick?"

"Is it just me, or is Maria taking an awfully long bathroom break?" he asked, and all three demigods fell silent.

* * *

Leo slowed down as he approached Dallas. The trip had taken less than three hours. He drove towards the address displayed by the GPS. He had gotten the address with ease that defied belief. Which was a fancy way of saying that he had Googled Teresa Wilkins. Over several decades of fostering kids, she had undoubtedly collected plenty of money provided by child services. (Of course, she had barely used any of it.) She had bought a larger house with it, so it seemed. Her new house was nowhere close to a Hollywood star-level mansion, but it wasn't an ordinary house either.

Within minutes, the GPS beeped, and Leo stopped the car on the side of the road opposite to Teresa's house. He pressed a purple button on the dashboard, entering surveillance mode. Panels flipped over and screens came to life. They displayed thermal scans, radar, energy readings, and even a magic detector. Obviously, the largest source was located in the car itself. But there was another source of magic, negligible when compared to the first, yet far beyond that of an ordinary human.

Bingo.

Leo initiated a scan of the house, just as another car drove up Teresa's driveway. Neither the car nor its occupant showed gave off any abnormal readings on the scanners, but Leo was able to identify the symbol on the man's suit as he got out of the car.

Child services.

By the time the man had locked his car, Leo's scans had revealed the demigod's location and status. Apparently, he had been tied to a chair in the dining room. He had a few fractured ribs, but nothing that couldn't be healed with a bit of ambrosia. Leo's surveillance system couldn't detect skin damage, but it was more than likely that the kid was covered head-to-toe with bruises. Unfortunately, Leo was making that assumption based on his own history.

Leo diverted his attention to the man who had now walked up to the door. He rang the bell twice, and the door was opened by a woman that Leo had never wanted to see. Two decades had unfortunately done little to no damage to her looks. She might have been a psychopath, but even Leo had to appreciate the intense workout that she did to maintain her perfect physique. In fact, Leo had based his own training regimen off hers. He activated the ranged microphone, and a voice that had haunted him for two-thirds of his life came alive over the speakers.

"Why hello, Mr. Peter Stuart. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" Teresa asked. She was wearing a blouse that showed off quite a bit of her midriff, as well as some shorts.

Leo shuddered and gripped the steering wheel so hard that the metal bent under his fingers. Teresa's voice was followed by an unknown male voice, but Leo realized the tone in which he spoke. Leo's in-charge had used the exact same tone with Teresa.

"Why, I am here on business purposes. I'm supposed to check on young Mr. Albert McGuffin who is staying with you." He said as he reduced the distance between them. Teresa was significantly taller than him, which gave him a perfect view of Teresa's assets, and he didn't even try to hide the fact that he was staring. Leo watched in revulsion as he watched a scene from twenty years ago replay itself in his mind, and it was more or less the same thing all over again. Teresa gave the man a look of innocence, and Leo could tell it was fake from a hundred feet away.

"I'm afraid he isn't doing so well, Mr. Stuart. He keeps misbehaving. I don't know what to do." Teresa said with impossible innocence, perfectly pulling off the helpless damsel in distress look, which was completely contrasted by the cruel and lustful look in her eyes and her extremely muscular physique, including a set of eight-pack abs that looked like they were made of iron.

"I am truly sorry, ma'am. You seem to be in need of consolation." The child services guy, Peter said, confirming hat type of person he was. When it came to Teresa, there were only two- those who believed her lies, and those who she 'convinced' to keep her secret.

"What kind of consolation are we talking about?" Teresa asked seductively, pulling down one of the shoulder straps of her blouse. Peter stepped closer hand his hands snaked around her waist, hiding them from Leo's view, but he had once been on the other side of the door, and he knew exactly what was happening, if Teresa's shorts slipping down a few inches was any indication.

"The kind that's immensely pleasurable. Why don't we go inside? I'll have a talk with Albert while we're at it." Peter said, and Teresa's shorts almost slipped off completely. She let out a giggle, which was extremely uncharacteristic for someone with her personality.

"He's in the kitchen, so why don't we got there first? But I'm afraid that Albert is a bit 'tied-up' at the moment." Teresa said, rubbing her hips against Peter's.

"Even better." Peter said as Teresa pulled him through the door before slamming it shut. And it was about time too, because Leo was disgusted enough. When he next saw Hades, he was so going to ask him to grant her immortality and then throw her into Tartarus.

Leo sighed and turned the surveillance systems off, and once again, the car interior appeared normal. Leo got out of the car and took a deep breath, before letting it out with a long whoosh. He walked up Teresa's driveway and towards the front door. Over the years, his mechanical ability as a demigod had evolved to such a degree that the complex security was deactivated before he even touched the door. It opened silently, and Leo walked in. He didn't need to know where the dining room was, the grunts and moans led him straight to it. He opened the door to the dining room, and made eye contact with the monster in human skin for the first time in two decades.

Teresa was far more muscular than he remembered. Her figure would have made both Aphrodite and Ares jealous. She was currently bent over the dining table with her shorts and underwear pulled down to her ankles, while Peter was right behind her, his hands under her blouse. His pants were also bunched up around his ankles.

"Who the fuck are you?!" Teresa screamed, pushing Peter off and yanking her shorts back up and striding towards Leo, before realizing that her blouse and bra weren't exactly doing their job. She furiously fixed her attire, nearly ripping the cloth apart.

Leo expertly masked his fear. Logically, he knew perfectly well that he could take on ten Teresa's at once without his weapons or his fire with one hand tied behind his back, but the old fear was still there. Standing in front of her, he once more felt like a ten year-old. He glanced around the room, and saw a boy who looked as if he was five strapped to a chair, gagged and bound. There were tears in his eyes, because of physical or psychological torture, but Leo guessed that it was probably both.

Leo sidestepped to avoid Teresa's hand which was aimed at his throat. He deftly slipped under her arm and into the dining room, where Peter had just finished pulling his pants back up. He discreetly set a finger on fire and quickly burned through Albert's gag and ropes. They fell away, and Albert took deep, pained gasps. Leo quickly tipped a bottle of nectar into his mouth. Albert choked, but within seconds, his breathing had stabilized, and the bruises and cuts were already disappearing, and his eyes widened in wonder.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Teresa screamed once more. "Who the fuck do you think you are?!" Veins popped up all over her body, and her muscles flexed.

"Leo Valdez."

That stopped Teresa dead in her tracks. "What….. did you say?" she asked, her voice full of disbelief.

"My name… is Leo Valdez." Leo said, forcefully keeping his voice steady "It's been a while, Teresa Wilkins." He shot her the most intense glare he could muster in the face on one of his greatest nightmares. He could practically read the shock and confusion written all over her face as she tried to gather herself. She stared at him dumbfoundedly, but slowly, her confused look turned into a smirk.

"Well, would you look at what found its way back home." Teresa said mockingly, choosing to ignore the fact that Leo had walked in on her whole she was almost completely naked. But he had seen her doing it while she was completely naked several times over anyway, so it wasn't anything new.

"This is not my home!" Leo said furiously "And I'm not here for you. I'm here for him." He said, nodding his head towards Albert.

Teresa's smirk turned into a genuine look of bewilderment. "Why the fuck do you want the brat? He's no good in bed and certainly not in life." Leo's expression darkened Albert's backstory was giving him a sense of déjà vu. "Or maybe….. that's exactly why you want him. He's just like you, now that I think about it."

"Teresa, you know this guy?" Peter asked, and was immediately put on the receiving end of Leo's glare.

"Oh, no worries, he's just another worthless piece of trash I regret having given a loving home." Teresa said, smiling at Leo cruelly.

Peter was never the sharpest tool in the shed. In fact, he might as well have been the bluntest. He was visiting Teresa for the third time on 'Official Business' and had gotten to know Teresa extremely intimately. Asking what he did despite knowing how well built she was a testament to his stupidity.

"Wait, you fostered him? How old are you?" Peter asked in slight revulsion.

 _CRACK!_

Teresa's fist went through the wooden table, sending splinters flying. "Shut up." Teresa growled, glaring at Peter. There was a deadly undertone in her voice, and Leo noted that Peter had literally wet his pants. Teresa gave him a look of disgust. "Get the fuck outta here."

Peter ran without hesitation, leaving wet footprints behind, and Leo heard a roar of an engine before the screeching of tires. Leo would never see him again.

Peter may have exited the picture, but Teresa most certainly had not.

"Poor little Leo Valdez." Teresa mocked "That brat you're after killed his own father, you know. Birds of a feather flock together, I suppose."

Leo tensed up. Over the years, his friends had convinced him that his mother's death wasn't his fault. But when Teresa said it…

Teresa's smug look changed to one of fury. "How dare you. How dare you stand in my presence, after what you have done!" she screamed "You murdered your own mother! Devil spawn indeed! I will punish you for your sins!"

Teresa leapt over the table and threw herself at Leo, who was too shaken to move. He could reason with himself that the workshop incident was just an accident under normal circumstances. However, including Teresa meant throwing the word normal out the window. Teresa had used the death of his mother as a psychological weapon against him for nearly a full year. Those memories were permanently buried in his mind, hidden behind several firewalls, but Teresa was the password.

Leo was struck in the chest by Teresa's shin, and he was thrown into the wall. Albert whimpered and shrunk into a corner, but Teresa was focused on Leo alone.

"You killed your own mother in cold blood! Have you no shame?!"

"It wasn't my fault!" Leo protested, but Teresa was causing age-old insecurities to resurface. This was why, in place of his normal conviction, Leo's protest sounded more like denial.

Teresa's fist buried itself in Leo's gut, and Leo could tell that she was ridiculously strong, even by demigod standards. A seventeen year-old Percy wouldn't have stood a chance against her in a contest of strength. Of course, nowadays, Leo took blows dozens of times stronger than that on a daily basis, but coming from Teresa, his past memories overlapped with the present, causing the phantom pain to feel like a stick of dynamite going off in his face.

"You're a murderer!"

"Stop it!"

"You killed your own mother!" A solid slap sent Leo into another wall. "You're nothing more than a no-good bastard brat!" A high-kick sent him tumbling to the floor. Leo couldn't find it in himself to resist. His memories were clouding his vision.

" _Stilettoed heels, crap."_ Leo thought.

Teresa raised her foot above Leo. "No one will ever love you!" Teresa shrieked, bringing her lethal footwear down on him, and he found himself lacking the will to block or dodge.

Luckily, someone else didn't.

A small figure burst through the door, and snapped the blade with her bare hand.

"You're wrong." The girl said, her voice unwavering.

Teresa stumbled backwards, thrown off balance. "Now who the fuck are you?!" she yelled. She had definitely not fostered this one.

"He has plenty of love." The girl continued "My _Madre,_ my sisters, and my brother all love him, and so do I."

"The hell are you talking about? No one could possibly love a freak like that!"

"I don't care if he's a freak! I love him either way, because he's my _PADRĒ!_ " the girl yelled with fury.

Teresa's expression changed once more, and this time, shock was evident on her face. "What the…?! Impossible! What kind of a bitch would even consider making a family with him? It's not …"

Teresa was interrupted by a chuckle from Leo, who was getting back on his feet.

"Heh. I'm a grown man, for crying out loud, but I still need my daughter to save me. Sheesh, I really need to get a grip." Leo drew himself up to his full height, although he still remained a full foot and half shorter than Teresa. "Thanks, Maria" he said, patting her on the head "leave the rest to me. I've got this."

Leo stepped towards Teresa, his mind finally clear. He saw her fist coming at him from a mile away, and raised his palm to casually catch the fist that had broken several of his bones in the past. Teresa barely had the time to widen her eyes before Leo kicked her feet out from under her and drove his elbow into her spine. Teresa's mouth opened in a silent shout, and she was hurled to the ground face-first, unconscious.

"That was… anticlimactic." Maria deadpanned.

"It was supposed to be." Leo said "Although, even though I am grateful for it, what are you doing here, Maria? And more importantly, how did you get here?" Maria blushed and avoided eye contact.

"Well, I might have gotten a little bored, and I might have accidentally skipped training, and I might have accidentally hidden in the trunk of the car."

Leo sighed "You really do take after me, don't you?" he said, ruffling her hair, causing her to giggle. He glanced around the room once more and found Albert in a corned, staring at him slack-jawed. Maria, meet Albert. Albert, meet my daughter, Maria."

"Hi!" Maria said enthusiastically, skipping over to where Albert was, offering him her hand.

"H-hi." Albert stuttered. He took Maria's hand, and she hoisted him off the floor with such ease that even she was surprised.

"You're really light, you know. Tia D told me that that's not good for your health." Maria said bluntly.

"She starved me for days on end." Albert mumbled, his eyes darting over to Teresa's unconscious figure for a second.

"I know how you feel." Leo said gently "Which is why we're getting you out of here."

Fear crept over Albert's face, and his eyes darted all over the room. "Where are you taking me?" he asked, his voice unsteady.

Leo raised an eyebrow. "Anywhere is better than here, right?" he asked pointedly. The son of Athena ran the question through his head once, before nodding. "In that case, come on! We've got a long way to go!"

"I call shotgun!" Maria said immediately, dragging Albert behind her, as he struggled to keep up with the overenergetic girl.

Albert was initially extremely intrigued about the car, but the moment Leo floored it, he wished that he had chosen to walk instead. The whole ride was spent with Leo dodging cars with mere inches to spare, Maria's cheering, and Albert screaming his head off.

* * *

Steam rose off the car as the water sprinklers activated, and Leo and Maria got out. Albert was still holding onto the seatbelts for dear life.

"Come on, Albert! The journey's over, and we've reached Leo's hideout!" Leo coaxed. Slowly, Albert removed all three of the rear seatbelts one by one, and shakily exited the car, whereupon he was completely blown away by the gigantic, incomplete framework of Festus. His jaw dropped.

"Whoa! What is that?!" Albert exclaimed.

"That is Festus…. Or what will one day be the body of Festus. He's my automaton dragon." Leo replied, gazing fondly upon the mass of metal and circuitry.

"Leo!" A voice called out, and Maria immediately dashed off and hid behind a mountain of scrap metal. "Are you alright?" Calypso asked, hurriedly entering the room.

Leo threw the pile of scrap behind which Maria was hidden an inconspicuous glance, before saying, in true Valdez flair: "Yep! Leo Valdez is at a usual 1,000% awesomeness as usual!"

"I can tell that you're lying, Leo." Calypso said comfortingly. Leo's smile lost some of it's brilliance, but was compensated by the dramatic rise in authenticity.

"No worries, sunshine. I moved past may past. I don't care about her enough to let her ruin my present and future. This is the life I have now, and I am not abandoning it for satisfying old grudges." Calypso almost smiled at that.

"Good to have you back, Leo," Calypso said warmly. "Do you need anything?" Leo looked down at Albert, who was clearly intimidated by Calypso's overwhelmingly intimidating figure. It wasn't just her height- she let off a natural aura that constantly sent off fight or flight signals in the bodies of everyone within several meters of her, especially because she wasn't forcefully concealing it. Her presence was a thousand times more terrifying than anything Teresa could ever have hoped to achieve.

"Well, I could most certainly use a nap after all that. And someone should probably give Albert a tour of the place," he said and turned towards Albert, who was white as sheet. "Don't worry about her, Albert, she's not going to hurt you."

"Who is she?" Albert asked meekly, still terrified.

"She's Calypso, my wife."

"No way. I don't believe you. No way can a guy like you get someone like her!" Albert said, momentarily forgetting that the subject of conversation was standing right there.

"Why doesn't anyone ever believe me?" Leo yelled, throwing his arms over his head. "And you're like, six years old! You're not even supposed to know stuff like this!"

"It's only natural to know stuff like this! Anyone can tell just by looking!"

"Well, you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover now, are you?" Calypso said, suddenly appearing behind Albert. The young demigod let out a shriek in surprise and once more hid behind Leo, who sighed.

"Just go with her. I promise she won't hurt you. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"You're not having dinner?" Calypso asked.

"Nah, I don't really feel like eating. Besides, that stop at KFC on the way back was enough."

"If you say so, Leo. Come on, Albert. I'll introduce you to the rest of the kids. But first, we need to have a little talk regarding your mother….."

Calypso exited the lab, and Maria came out of hiding. "So, _padre,_ whose kid is he?"

"Son of Athena. His dad was the scientific advisor to the president who was assassinated two months ago."

"Oh. That guy."

"Besides, aren't you forgetting something, _hija_?"

"What?"

"You should be convincing the others to cover for you before they tell your _madre_ that you have been missing all day." Maria looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"Um…. I think I'll go do that. Right now." And with a burst of speed, Maria shot out of the room, leaving Leo in silence. He looked up at Festus' incomplete framework once more.

"Welp, it's been a long day, buddy. I think I'll take a break."

Festus said nothing as Leo walked out of the lab as well, turning off the lights, leaving the giant room in darkness. He took the stairs instead of the elevator, because for some reason, he felt much lighter and much stronger than before.

A huge weight had been removed from Leo's shoulders, a weight which when removed, had only made him stronger.

* * *

 **A/N:- Well, that's over. Seriously, I had to spend a full hour editing this so that the rating didn't get pushed into M. But it was worth it. Things are going smoothly, but all of us Leo fans know what that means.**

 **Read and review! Review responses will be at the top of next chapter. PM us if you want to know anything, and we'll answer in a day or two.**

 **Up next- The fastest demigod.**

 **-Phoenix.**


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